Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/199

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CHAP. V. § 20.
INTRODUCTION.
185

The portion of the sea which washes Libya is called the Libyan Sea; that surrounding the land opposite is designated by the respective names of the Iberian, the Ligurian,[p 1] and the Sardinian Seas, while the remaining portion as far as Sicily is named the Tyrrhenian Sea.[1] All along the coast between the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas, there are numerous islands, the largest of which are Sardinia and Cyrnus,[p 2] always excepting Sicily, which is larger and more fertile than any of our islands. The remainder are much smaller. Of this number are, in the high sea, Pandataria[p 3] and Pontia,[p 4] and close to the shore Æthalia,[p 5] Planasia,[p 6] Pithecussa,[p 7] Prochyta,[p 8] Capriæ,[p 9] Leucosia,[2] and many others. On the other[p 10] side of the Ligurian shore, and along the rest of the coast as far as the Pillars, there are but few islands; the Gymnasiæ[p 11] and Ebusus[p 12] are of this number. There are likewise but few islands along the coasts of Libya and Sicily. We may mention however Cossura,[p 13] Ægimurus,[p 14] and the Lipari Islands, likewise called the Islands of Æolus.

20. After Sicily and the straits on either side of it,[3] there are other seas, for instance, that opposite the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic,[4] 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 Syrtes[p 15] is about 1600 stadia in circumference. On either side of its mouth lie the islands of Meninx[p 16] and Kerkina.[p 17] The Greater Syrtes[p 18] is (according to Eratosthenes) 5000 stadia in circuit, and in depth 1800, from the

  1. ↑ Vide Humboldt’s Cosmos, ii. 480.
  2. ↑ A small island off the Capo della Licosa.
  3. ↑ The Strait of Messina, and the strait separating Sicily and Cape Bona on the African coast.
  4. ↑ Of which Cyrene, now Curen, was the capital.
  1. ↑ The Gulf of Genoa.
  2. ↑ Corsica.
  3. ↑ Vento Tiene.
  4. ↑ Ponza.
  5. ↑ Elba.
  6. ↑ Saint Honorat.
  7. ↑ Ischia.
  8. ↑ Procida.
  9. ↑ Capri.
  10. ↑ The western side.
  11. ↑ Majorca and Minorca.
  12. ↑ Iviça.
  13. ↑ The island of Pantalaria.
  14. ↑ Al Djamur, at the entrance of the Gulf of Tunis.
  15. ↑ The Gulf of Cabes.
  16. ↑ The Island of Gerbi.
  17. ↑ The Island of Kerkeni.
  18. ↑ Sidra, or Zalscho.
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