At the N. end of the strait, beyond the entrance to the harbour of Aivaly (Gr. Kydonia), and the Moshonisia Islands (Hekatonesoi), opens to the N.E. the broad Bay of Edremid (Adramyti), on which rises Kaz Dagh (5807 ft.), the ancient Ida. We next steer to the W. through the Muselim Sound, between the N. coast of Mytilini and the S. coast of Troas or the Troad, where once rose the loftily situated stronghold of Assos.
After passing cape Baba Burnu (Lectum Promontorium), the S.W. point of Troas, we follow the course of the direct steamers from Smyrna, past Cape Eski Stambul (‘Old Stambul’), the site of Alexandreia Troas, a town of the Diadochi, and through the Strait of Tenedos (3 M. broad). The island of Tenedos, famed in the Trojan wars, now abounding in windmills, rises in a trachytic double peak to a height of 627 ft.
At the N. end of the strait lies the islet of Gaïdaronisi (lighthouse). Far away to the W., in clear weather, we descry the island of Limnos (ancient Lemnos); to the N.W., beyond Imbros, towers the mountain-mass of Samothrake (5250 ft.).
Beyond Besika Bay, in front of which lie the volcanic islands of Tavshan Adalar (‘rabbit-islands’; once Kalydnae or Lagussae), we pass the hills bordering the W. side of the plain of Troy, the legendary scene of the Homeric battles. Between Hagios Dimitrios Tepeh (hill of St. Demetrius) and the Greek village of Yenishehr is the site of Sigeum or Sigeion. Near it the tumuli of ‘Achilles and Patroklos’ were the burial-places of that Athenian colony.
We now near the strongly fortified Dardanelles (p. xxxiv), the ancient Hellespont, now named after the ancient town of Dardanos (see below). The straits connect the Ægean Sea with the Sea of Marmora, a distance of 37½ M., and average ¾–4¾ M. in breadth, and 160–295 ft. in depth. They intersect a tableland, 820–925 ft. in height, of tertiary formation (yellow marl and marl-limestone of the upper miocene). The surface current (p. [557]), sometimes setting as in the Bosporus at the rate of 5 M. an hour, causes serious difficulty to sailing-vessels, especially if wind and tide are both against them.
At the S.W. entrance to the Dardanelles, scarcely 2½ M. broad, lies a village on the Asiatic side with the ruined fortress of Kum Kaleh (light); opposite, on the Peninsula of Gallipoli, the ancient Thracian Chersonesus, is the fort of Sidd el-Bahr Kalesí.
Beyond Kum Kaleh we sight to the S., rising above the marshy plain of the Mendere Chai (Skamander), the low hill which was once the site of Troy (near Hissarlik), with the débris of the excavations. On the shore, to the W. of the mouth of the stream, lay the landing-place of the Greeks.
Passing the site of Dardanos (on the right) we soon reach the narrowest part of the straits (about 1475 yds.), commanded by the Dardanelles Castles built by Mohammed II. in 1470, with their new earthworks. On the European side is the picturesque Kilid Bahr (‘key of the sea’); on the Asiatic side is Kaleh Sultanieh or Boghaz Hissar, at the mouth of the Koja Chai (Rhodios). Under the protection of the latter lies the town of Chanak Kalesí (‘castle of pots’), usually called Dardanelles (pop. 16,700). While the steamer stops for way-leave the potters of the place offer their curiously shaped and painted vases for sale.
At the second-narrowest part of the straits (1585 yds.), where they bend to the N.E., once lay the towns of Sestos (left) and Abydos (right), now fort Nagara Kalesí (quarantine station; lighthouse). This was the traditional scene of the romance of Hero and Leander; it was here that Lord Byron swam across in 1810. Xerxes crossed the straits here in 480 B.C., Alexander the Great in 334 B.C., and the Turks in 1357.—On the coast, to the left, is the small plain of Ægospotamoi (now Karakova Dereh), off which the Spartans won a decisive victory over the Athenians in 405.
Near the N.E. end of the Dardanelles, on the right, lies the village of Lampsaki (Lampsakos) amid olive-groves and vineyards. To the left, on the steep projecting coast, is superbly situated the decayed town of Gallipoli (Kallipolis, ‘beautiful town’), the first European town captured in 1357 by Suleiman, son of Orkhân (p. [542]).