[2771] Or the Fox Island, so called from its first settlers having been directed by an oracle to establish a colony where they should first meet a fox with its cub. Like many others of the islands here mentioned, it appears not to have been identified.
[2772] See C. [18] of this Book.
[2773] None of these islands appear to have been identified by modern geographers.
[2774] Now generally known as the Palus Mæotis or Sea of Azof.
[2775] The modern Caraboa, according to Brotier, stands on its site. Priapus was the tutelary divinity of Lampsacus in this vicinity.
[2776] Or “entrance of Pontus”; now the Sea of Marmora.
[2777] “Ox Ford,” or “passage of the cow,” Io being said to have crossed it in that form: now called the “Straits of Constantinople.”
[2778] Said to have been called ἄξενος or “inhospitable,” from its frequent storms and the savage state of the people living on its shores. In later times, on the principle of Euphemism, or abstaining from words of ill omen, its name was changed to εὔξεινος, “hospitable.”
[2779] This was a favourite comparison of the ancients; the north coast, between the Thracian Bosporus and the Phasis, formed the bow, and the southern shores the string. The Scythian bow somewhat resembled in form the figure Σ, the capital Sigma of the Greeks.
[2780] Now the Straits of Kaffa or Enikale.