"The fore-sea." Now the Sea of Marmora; so called from its position with reference to the Pontus (Euxinus), being pro tou Pontou, "before the Pontus." It is the small sea uniting the Euxine and the Aegaean, and dividing Europe (Thracia) from Asia (Mysia and Bithynia).
Propontis (Propontis: Sea of Marmora), the sea between Thrace. and Asia Minor, forming an intermediate sea between the Aegean and the Euxine, with the latter of which it communicates through the narrow strait of the Thracian Bosporus, and with the former through the Hellespont. Its ancient name Propontis describes it as the sea before the entrance of the Pontus or Euxine; while its modern name is derived from the island of Marmora, the ancient Proconnesus, near the western entrance of the sea. (Appul. de Mund. p. 6; Steph. B. s. v. Propontis.) The first authors who mention the Propontis under this name are Aeschylus (Pers. 876), Herodotus (iv. 85), and Scylax (pp. 28, 35); and Herodotus seems even to have made an accurate measurement of this sea, of which he states the length, to be 1400 stadia, and the breadth 500. Later writers such as Strabo (ii. p. 125) and Agathemerus (ii. 14), abandoning the correct view of their predecessor, state that the breadth of the Propontis is almost equal to its length, although, assuming the Propontis to extend as far as Byzantium, they include in its length a portion of the Thracian Bosporus. Modern geographers reckon about 120 miles from one strait to the other, while the greatest breadth of the Propontis from the European to the Asiatic coast does not exceed 40 miles. The form of the Propontis would be nearly oval, were it not that in its south-eastern part Mt. Arganthonius with the promontory of Poseidion forms two deep bays, that of Astacus and that of Cius. The most important cities on the coasts of the Propontis are: Perinthus, Selymbria, Byzantium, Chalcedon, Astacus, Cius, and Cyzicus. In the south-west there are several islands, as Proconnesus, Ophiusa, and Alone; at the eastern extremity, south of Chalcedon, there is a group of small islands called Demonnesi while one small island, Besbicus, is situated in front of the bay of Cius. (Comp. Polyb. iv. 39, 42; Strab. xii. p. 574, xiii. pp. 563, 583; Ptol. v. 2. § 1, vii. 5. § 3, viii. 11. § 2, 17. § 2; Agath. i. 13; Dionys. Per. 137; Pomp. Mela, i. 1, 3, 19, ii. 2, 7; Plin. iv. 24, v. 40; Kruse, Ueber Herodots Ausmessung des Pontus Euxinus, &c., Breslau, 1820.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Pityodes (Pituodes), a small island in the Propontis off the coast
of Bithynia, near Cape Hyris, and 110 stadia to the north of Cape Acritas. (Plin.
v. 44; Steph. B. s. v. Pituoussai, who speaks of several islands of this name,
which is the same as Pituodeis.) The island is probably the one now called Bojuk
Ada, where Pococke (vol. iii. p. 147) found remains of an ancient town.
(Xerogupsos, Anna Comn. vii. 11, p. 378, Bonn), a small river in the SE. of Thrace,
which falls into the Propontis, not far from Perinthus. In some maps it is called
the Erginus, upon the authority of Mela (ii. 2).
(Linos), a place on the coast of Mysia, on the Propontis, between Priapus and
Parium ; it is noticed only by Strabo (xiii. p. 588), as the spot where the best
snails (kochliai) were found.
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