20. After Sicily and the straits on either side of it,779 there are other seas, for instance, that opposite the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic,780 the Syrtes themselves, and the sea formerly called the Ausonian, but which, as it flows into and forms part of the Sea of Sicily, is now included under the latter name. The sea opposite to the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic is called the Libyan Sea; it extends as far as the Sea of Egypt.
The Lesser Syrtes781 is about 1600 stadia in circumference. On either side of its mouth lie the islands of Meninx782 and Kerkina.783 The Greater Syrtes784 is (according to Eratosthenes) 5000 stadia in circuit, and in depth 1800, from the Hesperides 785 to Automala,786 and the frontier which separates the Cyrenaic from the rest of Libya. According to others, its circumference is only 4000 stadia, its depth 1500 stadia, and the breadth at its mouth the same.
The Sea of Sicily washes Italy, from the Strait of Rhegium787 to Locris,788 and also the eastern coast of Sicily from Messene789 to Syracuse790 and Pachynus.791 On the eastern side it reaches to the promontories of Crete, surrounds the greater part of Peloponnesus, and fills the Gulf of Corinth.792 On the north it advances to the Iapygian Promontory,793 the mouth of the Ionian Gulf,794 the southern parts of Epirus,795 as far as the Ambracic Gulf,796 and the continuation of the coast which forms the Corinthian Gulf, near the Peloponnesus.
The Ionian Gulf forms part of what we now call the Adriatic.797 Illyria forms its right side, and Italy as far as the recess where Aquileia is situated, the left.
The Adriatic stretches north and west; it is long and narrow, being in length about 6000 stadia, and its greatest breadth 1200. There are many islands situated here opposite the coasts of Illyria, such as the Absyrtides,798 Cyrictica,799 and the Libyrnides,800 also Issa,801 Tragurium,802 the Black Corcyra,803 and Pharos.804 Opposite to Italy are the Islands of Diomede.805 The Sea of Sicily is said to be 4500 stadia from Pachynus to Crete, and the same distance to Tænarus in Laconia.806 From the extremities of Iapygia to the bottom of the Gulf of Corinth the distance is less than 3000 stadia, while from Iapygia to Libya it is more than 4000. In this sea are the Islands of Corcyra807 and Sybota,808 opposite the coasts of Epirus; and beyond these, opposite the Gulf of Corinth, Cephallenia,809 Ithaca, Zacynth,810 and the Echinades.811
21. Next to the Sea of Sicily, are the Cretan, Saronic,812 and Myrtoan Seas, comprised between Crete, Argia,813 and Attica.814 Their greatest breadth, measured from Attica, is 1200 stadia, and their length not quite double the distance. Within are included the Islands of Cythera,815 Calauria,816 Ægina,817 Salamis,818 and certain of the Cyclades.819 Adjacent to these are the Ægæan Sea,820 the Gulf of Melas,821 the Hellespont,822 the Icarian and Carpathian Seas,823 as far as Rhodes, Crete, Cnidus, and the commencement of Asia. [In these seas] are the Cyclades, the Sporades, and the islands opposite Caria, Ionia, and Æolia, as far as the Troad, namely, Cos,824 Samos,825 Chios,826 Lesbos,827 and Tenedos;828 likewise on the Grecian side as far as Macedonia and the borders of Thrace, Eubœa,829 Scyros,830 Peparethus,831 Lemnos,832 Thasos,833 Imbros,834 Samothracia,835 and numerous others, of which it is our intention to speak in detail. The length of this sea is about 4000 stadia, or rather more,836 its breadth about 2000.837 It is surrounded by the coast of Asia above mentioned, and by those of Greece from Sunium838 northwards to the Thermaic Gulf839 and the Gulfs of Macedonia,840 and as far as the Thracian Chersonesus.841
22. Here too is the strait, seven stadia in length, which is between Sestos842 and Abydos,843 and through which the Ægæan and Hellespont communicate with another sea to the north, named the Propontis,844 and this again with another called the Euxine. This latter is, so to speak, a double sea, for towards its middle are two projecting promontories, one to the north, on the side of Europe, and the other opposite from the coast of Asia, which leave only a narrow passage between them, and thus form two great seas. The European promontory is named Criu-metopon;845 that of Asia, Carambis.846 They are distant from each other about 2500 stadia.847 The length of the western portion of this sea848 from Byzantium to the outlets of the Dnieper is 3800 stadia, its breadth 2000. Here is situated the Island of Leuca.849 The eastern portion is oblong and terminates in the narrow recess in which Dioscurias is situated. In length it is 5000 stadia, or rather more, and in breadth about 3000. The entire circumference of the Euxine is about 25,000 stadia. Some have compared the shape of its circumference to a Scythian bow when bent, the string representing the southern portions of the Euxine, (viz. the coast, from its mouth to the recess in which Dioscurias is situated; for, with the exception of Carambis, the sinuosities of the shore are but trifling, so that it may be justly compared to a straight line,) and the remainder [of the circumference representing] the wood of the bow with its double curve, the uppermost very much rounded, the lower more in a straight line. So this sea forms two gulfs, the western much more rounded than the other.
23. To the north of the eastern Gulf of the Pontus, is the Lake Mæotis, whose perimeter is 9000 stadia or rather more. It communicates with the Euxine by means of the Cimmerian Bosphorus,850 and the Euxine with the Propontis851 by the Thracian Bosphorus, for such is the name given to the Strait of Byzantium, which is four stadia in breadth. The length of the Propontis from the Troad to Byzantium is stated to be 1500 stadia. Its breadth is about the same. It is in this sea that the Island of the Cyziceni852 is situated, with the other islands around it.
24. Such and so great is the extent of the Ægæan Sea towards the north.853 Again, starting from Rhodes, the [Mediterranean] forms the seas of Egypt, Pamphylia, and Issus, extending in an easterly direction from Cilicia to Issus, a distance of 5000 stadia, along the coasts of Lycia, Pamphylia, and the whole of Cilicia. From thence Syria, Phœnicia, and Egypt surround the sea to the south and west as far as Alexandria. The Island of Cyprus is situated in the Gulfs of Issus and Pamphylia, close to the Sea of Egypt. The passage between Rhodes and Alexandria from north [to south] is about 4000 stadia;854 sailing round the coasts it is double this distance. Eratosthenes informs us that, although the above is the distance according to some mariners, others avow distinctly that it amounts to 5000 stadia; while he himself, from observations of the shadows indicated by the gnomon, calculates it at 3750.
That part of the Mediterranean Sea which washes the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia together with the right side of the Euxine, the Propontis, and the sea-coast beyond this as far as Pamphylia, form a kind of extensive Chersonesus, the isthmus of which is also large, and reaches from the sea near Tarsus855 to the city of Amisus,856 and thence to the Themiscyran857 plain of the Amazons. In fact the whole region within this line as far as Caria and Ionia, and the nations dwelling on this side the Halys,858 is entirely surrounded by the Ægæan and the aforementioned parts of the Mediterranean and Euxine Seas.859 This is what we call Asia properly,860 although the whole continent bears the same name.
25. To speak shortly, the southernmost point of Our Sea is the recess of the Greater Syrtes;861 next to this Alexandria in Egypt, and the mouths of the Nile; while the most northerly is the mouth of the Dnieper, or if the Mæotis be considered to belong to the Euxine, (and it certainly does appear to form a part of it,) the mouth of the Don. The Strait at the Pillars is the most westerly point, and the most easterly is the said recess, in which Dioscurias862 is situated; and not, as Eratosthenes falsely states, the Gulf of Issus,863 which is under the same meridian as Amisus864 and Themiscyra, and, if you will have it so, Sidene as far as Pharnacia.865 Proceeding thence in an easterly direction to Dioscurias, the distance by sea is above 3000 stadia, as will be seen more plainly in my detailed account of those countries. Such then is the Mediterranean.
26. We must now describe the countries which surround it; and here we will begin from the same point, whence we commenced our description of the sea itself.
Entering the Strait at the Pillars, Libya, as far as the river Nile, is on the right hand, and to the left, on the other side of the Strait, is Europe, as far as the