Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
time evidently, since he does not mention it. He thought the altar
was probably a remnant of the shrine to Apollo which Dionysius of
Byzantium says the Romans erected on one of the Cyanean Rocks.
The column itself, with its Corinthian capital, toppled down in April
1680 and had utterly disappeared by 1800. There is now a simple fish
restaurant on the Rock, with its tables set out on the breakwater at
the very end of the Bosphorus.
THE ASIAN SHORE OF THE UPPER BOSPHORUS
We now cross the Bosphorus and sail down the Asiatic coast.
Curiously enough the Asian shores of the upper Bosphorus are very
imperfectly known and seem to have been rarely visited even by the
few authors who write about them. The only safe guide is Gyllius, for
he alone appears to have explored the region in detail. Even Gyllius'
account, however, is not altogether free from difficulties, for he never
gives the Turkish names of places in this region, perhaps because in
his time they didn't yet have any. Nevertheless, there are four places in
his narrative which can be identified with certainty; the Rhebas River,
the Promontorium Ancyraeum, the Promontorium Coracium and
the Fanum Jovis; and from these the others can be worked out. The
Rhebas still retains a version of its ancient name: Riva or Irva Deresi;
it is a river that flows into the Black Sea about four kilometres beyond
the mouth of the Bosphorus, and just beyond it is the great table-like
rocky islet in the sea which he calls Colonean but is now known as
Eşek Adası, Donkey Island. Riva is very attractive and picturesque
with its Genoese castle at the end of a long sandy beach; it is a fine
place to swim and picnic.
The Ancyraean Cape is Yum Burnu, Cape of Good Omen; as its
hopeful name might imply, it is just at the mouth of the Bosphorus.
In Gyllius' time it was called Cape Psomion; it was here that Jason
took aboard a stone anchor for the Argos, hence its ancient name
of Ancyraean. The reef or rock which has the best claim to be the
Asian Cyanean stands immediately under the southern clif face of
Yum Burnu and is thus described by Gyllius, a description which is
perfectly applicable to this day: “The reef is divided into four rocks
above water which, however, are joined below; it is separated from
Search WWH ::
Custom Search