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PROPONTIS (Sea) TURKEY
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
"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).
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