Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Sestos was an ancient town of the Thracian Chersonese, the modern Gallipoli peninsula. Situated on the Hellespont opposite Abydos, it was the home of Hero in the legend of Hero and Leander. Xerxes' army crossed at this point on a bridge in 480 BC, and most of Alexander the Great's forces went the other way here by boat in 334 BC. In 1810 Lord Byron swam from Sestos to Abydos in four hours, recreating Leander's feat. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.