Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 1009

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

The Cimmerian Bosporus (BA 84 B3) was the ancient Greek name for the Kerch Strait, the narrow channel through which Lake MAEOTIS (Sea of Azov) flows into the EUXINE (Black) Sea, separating the Tauric Chersonese (Crimea) from Sindian territory. The name, according to one theory (4.11–12), stemmed from the CIMMERIANS’ former occupation of what then became Scythian territory. The straits marked one corner of SCYTHIA in Herodotus’ geographical conception (4.100.1) and even the border between EUROPE and ASIA according to some (4.45.2). Herodotus notes the freezing over of the Cimmerian Bosporus as PROOF of the harshness of Scythian winters (4.28.1). Although there were numerous Greek settlements in the area beginning in the sixth century BCE, Herodotus mentions none of them by name. The northern end of the straits, where the crossing was easiest, was known as the Cimmerian Ferries (porthmia, 4.12.1, 45.2); the city of Porthmeion lay on the Crimean coast there.

SEE ALSO: Bosporus, Thracian; Geography; Sindians; Weather