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[20]

After Sicily and the straits on either side of it,1 there are other seas, for instance, that opposite the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic,2 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 Syrtes3 is about 1600 stadia in circumference. On either side of its mouth lie the islands of Meninx4 and Kerkina.5 The Greater Syrtes6 is (according to Eratosthenes) 5000 stadia in circuit, and in depth 1800, from the Hes- perides7 to Automala,8 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 Rhegium9 to Locris,10 and also the eastern coast of Sicily from Messene11 to Syracuse12 and Pachynus.13 On the eastern side it reaches to the promontories of Crete, surrounds the greater part of Peloponnesus, and fills the Gulf of Corinth.14 On the north it advances to the Iapygian Promontory,15 the mouth of the Ionian Gulf,16 the southern parts of Epirus,17 as far as the Ambracic Gulf,18 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.19 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,20 Cyrictica,21 and the Libyrnides,22 also Issa,23 Tragurium,24 the Black Corcyra,25 and Pharos.26 Opposite to Italy are the Islands of Diomede.27 The Sea of Sicily is said to be 4500 stadia from Pachynus to Crete, and the same distance to Tænarus in Laconia.28 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 Corcyra29 and Sybota,30 opposite the coasts of Epirus; and beyond these, opposite the Gulf of Corinth, Cephallenia,31 Ithaca, Zacynth,32 and the Echinades.33

1 The Strait of Messina, and the strait separating Sicily and Cape Bona on the African coast.

2 Of which Cyrene, now Curen, was the capital.

3 The Gulf of Cabes.

4 The Island of Gerbi.

5 The Island of Kerkeni.

6 Sidra, or Zalscho.

7 Hesperides is the same city which the sovereigns of Alexandria afterwards called Berenice. It is the modern Bernic or Bengazi.

8 Automala appears to have been situated on the most northern point of the Greater Syrtes, on the confines of a small gulf, near to a place called Tine, or the Marsh.

9 Now Reggio, on the Strait of Messina, which was also sometimes called the Strait of Rhegium.

10 These were the Epizephyrian Locrians, or dwellers near the promontory of Zephyrium. They were situated towards the extremity of Italy, near Rhegium. Traces of their city are seen at Motta di Bourzano on the eastern coast of Ulterior Calabria.

11 Messina.

12 Syragusa.

13 Cape Passaro.

14 The Gulf of Lepanto.

15 Cape Leuca or Finisterre.

16 The lower part of the Adriatic was designated the Ionian Gulf

17 The portion of Greece opposite Corfu.

18 The Gulf of Arta.

19 The Gulf of Venice.

20 The Islands of Cherso and Ossero.

21 Apparently the Curicta of Pliny and Ptolemy, corresponding to the island of Veglia.

22 The Libyrnides are the islands of Arbo, Pago, Isola Longa, Coronata, &c., which border the coasts of ancient Liburnia, now Murlaka.

23 Lissa.

24 The Island of Traw.

25 Curzola.

26 Lesina.

27 The Islands of Tremiti.

28 From Cape Pachynus or Passaro to Cape Krio, the ancient Criu- metopon, on the western extremity of the Island of Crete, measures 4516 stadia of 700 to a degree.

29 Corful.

30 Sibota, Sajades; certain small islands between Epirus and Corcyra.

31 Cefalonia.

32 Zante.

33 The Curzolari Islands at the mouth of the Aspro-Potamo.

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