Simav River

{{Short description|River in Balıkesir, Turkey}} thumb|right|Map of the Simav River basin

The '''Simav''' ({{langx|tr|Simav Çayı}}) or '''Susurluk River'''<ref name="DSI">Turkish General Directorate of State Water Works (DSİ). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20101210003232/http://www.dsi.gov.tr/english/topraksue.htm Land and Water Resources]." Archive accessed 3 Sept. 2011.</ref> (''Susurluk Çayı'') is a river in Anatolian Turkey. Its course is 321 km long<ref name="DSI"/> and its basin comprises 22,400 km<sup>2</sup>. It was the classical '''Macestus'''<ref>Pliny the Elder. ''Natural History'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D40 V, 40], §2. Accessed 3 Sept. 2011.</ref><ref name="Hazy">Hazlitt, W. ''The Classical Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Ancient Geography, Sacred and Profane.'' "{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070909181516/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/gazetteer/0212.html Macestus]}}." Whittaker & Co. (London), 1851. Accessed 4 Sept. 2011.</ref> ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|s|ɛ|s|t|ə|s}}; {{langx|el|Μέκεστος}}, ''Mékestos''<ref>Strabo. ''The Geographica'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D12%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D11#note4 XII, 8, §11]. Accessed 3 Sept. 2011.</ref>). In the 19th century, it was known as the '''Mikalick'''.<ref name="Hazy"/>

The Simav has its source in Kütahya Province, from which it flows north across the plain of Simav into Balıkesir Province. There is a reservoir at the Çaygören Dam,<ref>Turkish General Directorate of State Water Works (DSİ). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20180225190735/http://www2.dsi.gov.tr/baraj/detay.cfm?BarajID=32 Çaygören Baraji]" (tr). Archive accessed 3 Sept. 2011.</ref> out of which the Simav flows past Susurluk and meets the Adirnaz. During the classical period, the Macestus was a tributary of the Rhyndacus (the modern Adirnaz), but today the Simav forms the main course from their confluence near Karacabey down to the Sea of Marmara. Along the way, it meets the Nilüfer River (the classical Odrysses).

Its mouth faces the island of Imrali, a high-security prison.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.eie.gov.tr/turkce/YEK/HES/hidroloji/03susurluk.html A map of the Simav Basin] (tr)

{{Rivers of Turkey}} Category:Rivers of Turkey Category:Landforms of Kütahya Province Category:Landforms of Balıkesir Province Category:Landforms of Bursa Province