Bosphŏrus

and Bospŏrus , two narrow straits, situate at the confines of Europe and Asia. One was called Cimmerian, and joined the Palus Mœotis to the Euxine, now known by the name of the straits of Caffa; and the other, which was called the Thracian Bosphorus, and by the moderns the straits of Constantinople, made a communication between the Euxine sea and the Pro pont is. It is 16 miles long, and one and a half broad, and where narrowest 500 paces or four stadia, according to Hero dot us. The word is derived from Βοος πορος , bovis meatus , because, on account of its narrowne , an ox could easily cro it. Cocks were heard to crow, and dogs to bark, from the opposite banks, and in a calm day persons could talk one to the other. Pliny , bk. 4 , ch. 12 ; bk. 6 , ch. 1 .— Ovid , Tristia , bk. 3 , poem 4, li. 49 .— Mela , bk. 1 , ch. 1 .— Strabo , bk. 12 .— Hero dot us , bk. 4 , ch. 85 .