The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
21. Next to the Sea of Sicily, are the Cretan, Saronic,[812] and Myrtoan
Seas, comprised between Crete, Argia,[813] and Attica.[814] Their
greatest breadth, measured from Attica, is 1200 stadia, and their length
not quite double the distance. Within are included the Islands of
Cythera,[815] Calauria,[816] Ægina,[817] Salamis,[818] and certain of
the Cyclades.[819] Adjacent to these are the Ægæan Sea,[820] the Gulf of
Melas,[821] the Hellespont,[822] the Icarian and Carpathian Seas,[823]
as far as Rhodes, Crete, Cnidus, and the commencement of Asia. [In these
seas] are the Cyclades, the Sporades, and the islands opposite Caria,
Ionia, and Æolia, as far as the Troad, namely, Cos,[824] Samos,[825]
Chios,[826] Lesbos,[827] and Tenedos;[828] likewise on the Grecian side
as far as Macedonia and the borders of Thrace, Eubœa,[829] Scyros,[830]
Peparethus,[831] Lemnos,[832] Thasos,[833] Imbros,[834]
Samothracia,[835] and numerous others, of which it is our intention to
speak in detail. The length of this sea is about 4000 stadia, or rather
more,[836] its breadth about 2000.[837] It is surrounded by the coast
of Asia above mentioned, and by those of Greece from Sunium[838]
northwards to the Thermaic Gulf[839] and the Gulfs of Macedonia,[840]
and as far as the Thracian Chersonesus.[841]
22. Here too is the strait, seven stadia in length, which is between
Sestos[842] and Abydos,[843] and through which the Ægæan and Hellespont
communicate with another sea to the north, named the Propontis,[844] and
this again with another called the Euxine. This latter is, so to speak,
a double sea, for towards its middle are two projecting promontories,
one to the north, on the side of Europe, and the other opposite from the
coast of Asia, which leave only a narrow passage between them, and thus
form two great seas. The European promontory is named Criu-metopon;[845]
that of Asia, Carambis.[846] They are distant from each other about 2500
stadia.[847] The length of the western portion of this sea[848] from
Byzantium to the outlets of the Dnieper is 3800 stadia, its breadth
2000. Here is situated the Island of Leuca.[849] The eastern portion is
oblong and terminates in the narrow recess in which Dioscurias is
situated. In length it is 5000 stadia, or rather more, and in breadth
about 3000. The entire circumference of the Euxine is about 25,000
stadia. Some have compared the shape of its circumference to a Scythian
bow when bent, the string representing the southern portions of the
Euxine, (viz. the coast, from its mouth to the recess in which
Dioscurias is situated; for, with the exception of Carambis, the
sinuosities of the shore are but trifling, so that it may be justly
compared to a straight line,) and the remainder [of the circumference
representing] the wood of the bow with its double curve, the uppermost
very much rounded, the lower more in a straight line. So this sea forms
two gulfs, the western much more rounded than the other.
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