Serīphus

, an island in the Ægean sea, about 36 miles in circumference, according to Pliny only 12, very barren, and uncultivated. The Romans generally sent their criminals there in banishment, and it was there that Ca ius Severus the orator was exiled, and there he died. According to Ælian, the frogs of this island never croaked, but when they were removed from the island to another place, they were more noisy and clamorous than others; hence the proverb of seriph i a rana , applied to a man who neither speaks nor sings. This, however, is found to be a mistake by modern travellers. It was on the coast of Seriphos that the chest was discovered in which Acrisius had exposed his daughter Danae and her son Perseus. Strabo , bk. 10 .— Ælian , De Natura Animalium , bk. 3 , ch. 37 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 7 .— Apollo dor us , bk. 1 , ch. 9 .— Tacitus , Annals , bk. 4 , ch. 21 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 5 , li. 242 ; bk. 7 , li. 65 .