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MEHMET FATIH YAVUZ

Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University

The Thracian Bosporus is the narrow strait connecting the EUXINE (Black) Sea with the sea of Marmara (the PROPONTIS), and separating EUROPE from ASIA (BA 53). It is about 30 kilometers in length and 780 meters in width at its narrowest point between Rumeli Hisarı and Anadolu Hisarı (cf. 4.85; Polyb. 4.39, 43). The powerful surface current flowing out of the Euxine was famous and dangerous (Polyb. 4.43–44; cf. Hor. Carm. 2.13–144, 3.29–32). The Bosporus was on the migration route of FISH that moved seasonally between the Euxine and the MEDITERRANEAN (Hdt. 4.88.2).

The Bosporus became a strategic commercial marine passage connecting the Euxine and the Mediterranean world after the foundation of a large number of Greek colonies on the shores of the Euxine in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE. Already at the beginning of the fifth century HISTIAEUS SON OF LYSAGORAS appreciated the strategic importance of the Bosporus and blockaded it (6.5.3, 26.1). The Bosporus served also as a key transit point between Europe and Asia (7.20; 9.89.4). On his way against the SCYTHIANS in 513, DARIUS I and his Persian army crossed the Bosporus on a pontoon bridge built by the Greek architect MANDROCLES at its narrowest point (4.86–87).

There were only two poleis on the shores of the Bosporus: BYZANTIUM and CALCHEDON, both located at its southern entrance in Europe and Asia, respectively. On the other hand, several small settlements and sanctuaries dotted both shores of the Bosporus, according to the account of Dionysius of Byzantium (second century CE: Güngerich 1927). The most important and celebrated sanctuary was Hieron on the Asiatic side at the mouth of the Euxine, now Anadolu Kavağı (Hdt 4.87; Polyb. 4.39), where the Spartan general PAUSANIAS dedicated a famous krater (Hdt. 4.81.3; Nymphis BNJ 432 F9).

SEE ALSO: Bosporus, Cimmerian; Boundaries; Geography; Sea; Ships and Sailing; Trade