BOOK IV. XII. 74-77 



Arconesus, Diethusa, Ascapos, Capheris, Mesate, 

 Aeantion, Pateronnesus, Pateria, Calathe, Neriphus, 

 Pelendos. 



The fourth of the great Gulfs of Europe begins at ^'ac*^ Sea. 

 the Dardanelles and ends at the entrance of the Sea 

 of Azov. But in order more easily to indicate the 

 di^isions of the Black Sea we must glve a brief 

 description of its shape as a whole. It is a vast body 

 of Avater lying in front of Asia and shut out from 

 Europe by the promontory of GalhpoU ; but it forces 

 an entrance into the interior by a narrow winding 

 channel, and separates Europe from Asia, as has been 

 said, by a strait that is less than a mile wide. The V^^- 

 first part of the narrows is called the Dardanelles ; 

 here the Persian king Xerxes made the bridge of 

 boats across which he led his army. From there a 

 narrow channel 86 miles long extcnds to the Asiatic 

 city of Priapus ; it was here that Alexandcr the 

 Great crosscd. From this point the water bcgins to 

 widen out, and afterwards narrows again. The wide 

 part is called the Sea of Marmara and the narrows 

 the Straits of Constantinople ; at the point where 

 Xerxcs' father Darius conveycd his forces across by 

 means of a bridge it is 500 yards wide, and its entire 

 length from the Dardanelles is 239 miles. 



Then comes the vast extent of the Black Sea, 

 formerly the Axenus," which cncroaclics on a large 

 area of the continent, and with a great bend of its 

 coasts curves back into liorns and from thcm strctches 

 out on either side, producing exactly the shape of a 

 Scythian bow.* In the middle of the curve it is 

 joined by the mouth of the Sea of Azov ; this apcrture 

 is called the Straits of Kertsch, and measurcs two and 

 a half miles across. The distance in a straight Une 



175 



