Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/360

 326 plikt's natueal histoet. [Book rv. CHAP. 24. — THE HELLESPONT. — THE LAKE MiEOTIS. The fourtli great Gulf of Europe begins at the Hellespoi.fc and ends at the entrance of the M8eotis But in order that the several portions of the Euxine and its coasts may be the better known, we must briefly embrace the form, of it in one general yiew. This vast sea, lying in front of Asia, is shut out from Europe by the projection of the shores of the Chersonesus, and eifects an entrance into those coun- tries by a narrow channel only, of the wddth, as already mentioned, of seven stadia, thus separating Europe from Asia. The entrance of these Straits is called the Hel- lespont ; over it Xerxes, the king of the Persians, con- structed a bridge of boats, across which he led his army. A narrow channel extends thence a distance of eighty-six miles, as far as Priapus^, a city of Asia, at which Alexander the Grreat passed over. At this point the sea becomes wider, and after some distance again takes the form of a narrow strait. The mder part is known as the Propontis^, the Straits as the Thracian Bosporus'*, being only half-a- mile in width, at the place where Darius, the father of Xerxes, led his troops across by a bridge. The extremity of this is distant from the Hellespont 239 miles. "We then come to the vast sea called the Euxine, which invades the land as it retreats afar, and the name of which was formerly Axenus^ As the shores bend inwards, this sea with a vast sweep stretches far away, curving on both sides after the manner of a pair of horns, so much so that in shape it bears a distinct resemblance to a Scythian bow^. ^ Now generally known as the Pains Mceotis or Sea of Azof. 2 The modem Caraboa, according to Brotier, stands on its site. Pri- apiis was the tutelary divinity of Lampsacns in this vicinity. 3 Or " entrance of Pontns " ; now the Sea of Marmora. ■* " Ox Ford," or " passage of the cow," lo being said to have crossed it in that form : now caUed the " Straits of Constantinople." 5 Said to have been called d^evos or " mhospitable," from its frequent storms and the savage state of the people hvmg on its shores. In later times, on the principle of Euphemism, or abstaining from words of ill omen, its name was changed to evt,eivos, "hospitable." ^ This was a favourite comparison of the ancients ; the north coast, between the Thracian Bosporus and the Phasis, formed the bow, and the BOiithern shores the strmg. The Scythian bow somewhat resembled in form the figui'C S, the capital Sigma of the Greeks.