326 - PLIKY's KATrEAL HISTOET. [Book IV. 
CHAP. 24. — THE HELLESPONT. — THE LAE:E MiEOTIS. 
The fourth great Grulf of Europe begins at the Hellespoi.t 
and ends at the entrance of the Maeotis^ 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 view. This vast sea, lying in front of 
Asia, is shut out from Europe by the projection of the shores 
of the Chersonesus, and effects an entrance into those coun- 
tries by a narrow channel only, of the width, 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 Great passed over. At this point the sea becomes 
wider, and after some distance again takes the form of a 
narrow strait. The wider 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 Mseotis or Sea of Azof. 
2 The modern Caraboa, according to Brotier, stands on its site. Pri- 
apus was the tutelary divinity of Lampsacns in this vicinity. 
3 Or *' entrance of Pontus " ; now the Sea of Marmora. 
^ " Ox Ford," or " passage of the cow," lo being said to have crossed 
it in that form : now called the " Straits of Constantinople." 
^ Said to have been called d^evos or " inhospitable," from its frequent 
storms and the savage state of the people Hving on its shores. In later 
times, on the principle of Euphemism, or abstaining from words of iU 
omen, its name was changed to ev^eivos, " hospitable." 
^ This was a favourite comparison of the ancients ; the north coast, 
between the Tln:"acian Bosporus and the Phasis, formed the bow, and the 
southern shores the string. The Scythian bow somewhat resembled in 
form the figure 2, the capital Sigma of the Grreeks. 
