The Symplegades ( / s ɪ m ˈ p l ɛ ɡ ə d iː z / ; Greek : Συμπληγάδες , Symplēgádes ) or Clashing Rocks , also known as the Cyanean Rocks (Κυανέαι), were, according to Greek mythology , a pair of rocks at the Bosphorus that clashed together whenever a vessel went through. They were defeated by Jason and the Argonauts , who would have been lost and killed by the rocks except for Phineus ' advice. Jason let a dove fly between the rocks to see exactly how fast they'd have to row to beat the rocks; the dove lost only its tail feathers. The Argonauts rowed mightily to get through and lost only part of the stern ornament. After that, the Symplegades stopped moving permanently.
13-506: The European rock is usually identified with an islet, about 20 metres (66 ft) wide and 200 metres (660 ft) long, which stands about 100 metres (330 ft) off the shore of a village called Rumelifeneri ('Lighthouse of Rumeli ’), and is connected to it by a modern concrete jetty . At its highest point, there is an ancient altar known as the Pillar of Pompey , though it has nothing to do with Pompey . Dionysius of Byzantium mentions
26-458: A Byzantine predecessor), and the hagiasma (sacred well) known as tis Tsirpinas (της Τσίρπινας). Rumelifeneri is a fishermen's village. But it is very close to Istanbul, which makes the village a place of seafood restaurants specialized for daily excursion of Istanbul citizens. Petrus Gyllius Petrus Gyllius or Gillius (or Pierre Gilles ) (1490–1555) was a French natural scientist, topographer and translator. Gilles
39-521: A Roman shrine to Apollo on one of the Cyanean Rocks, and the 16th-century French traveller Petrus Gyllius thought the altar was a remnant of that shrine. The Asian rock is probably a reef off the Yum Burnu (north of Anadolu Feneri 'Lighthouse of Anatolia'), described by Gyllius: The reef is divided into four rocks above water which, however, are joined below; it is separated from the continent by
52-550: A manuscript of the geographical work of Dionysius of Byzantium and wrote a Latin paraphrase of it. Most of his books were published after his death by his nephew. In 1533 he also translated Claudius Aelianus . He died of malaria in Rome while accompanying his patron, Cardinal Georges d'Armagnac . As Pierre Gilles, Petrus Gyllius plays a small but significant role in Pawn in Frankincense ,
65-451: A narrow channel filled with many stones, by which as by a staircase one can cross the channel with dry feet when the sea is calm; but when the sea is rough, waves surround the four rocks into which I said the reef is divided. Three of these are low and more or less submerged, but the middle one is higher than the European rock, sloping up to an acute point and roundish right up to its summit; it
78-506: A now lost Greek inscription dating to the 3rd century CE was formerly on display at the Greek cemetery of the village. The village is named after a local lighthouse, which is attested in portolans and literary sources since at least the 15th century. Petrus Gyllius , who visited it in the mid-16th century, described it as octagonal, and ascribed to it a Byzantine origin. Its Greek inhabitants named it Phanarion (Φανάριον, "lighthouse"), often in
91-460: Is 4,337 (2022). Rumelifeneri is a coastal village located at the extreme northwest (i.e., European side) of the Bosphorous Strait. It is a suburb of Istanbul . The distance to Sarıyer is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and to the center of Greater Istanbul is about 25 kilometres (16 mi). Archaeological evidence in the area of the village dates back to the late Byzantine era, although
104-654: Is splashed by the waves but not submerged and is everywhere precipitous and straight. The Romans called them Cyaneae Insulae ("Blue Islands"), and in Turkish they are called Öreke Taşı ("Distaff Rock" or "Midwife's Stool"). Lord Byron refers to the Symplegades in the concluding stanzas of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage : And from the Alban Mount we now behold Our friend of youth, that ocean, which when we Beheld it last by Calp's rock unfold Those waves, we follow on till
117-656: The Symplegades as icebergs that drifted downriver into the Black Sea. The Symplegades are sometimes identified with (or confused with) the Planctae ( Πλαγκταί ) or Wandering Rocks, which are mentioned in the Odyssey and Apollonius of Rhodes ' Argonautica . In Apollonius's telling, the Symplegades were encountered on the way to the Golden Fleece and the Planctae were encountered on
130-494: The dark Euxine roll'd Upon the blue Symplegades ... The New Critic I. A. Richards refers to 'Symplegades' in his work Practical Criticism . In Chapter 2, 'Figurative Language', he refers to dangers of misinterpretation in reading poems: "These twin dangers - careless, 'intuitive' reading and prosaic, 'over-literal' reading - are the Symplegades, the 'justling rocks', between which too many ventures into poetry are wrecked." In his 1961 novel Jason , Henry Treece depicts
143-482: The diminutive Phanarakion (Φαναράκιον). In 1768, a fortress was built by a Greek engineer for the Ottoman Empire (Rumeli Fener Kalesi), possibly on older foundations. It is now in ruins. Rumelifeneri was involved was the rebellion of Kabakçı Mustafa . Before World War I , the village was inhabited by Greeks—some 900 inhabitants in the late 19th century—and had a church dedicated to St. George (possibly built on
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#1733086195534156-530: The return voyage. The similarities and differences between the Wandering Rocks and the Symplegades have been much debated by scholars, as have potential locations for them. (See also Geography of the Odyssey .) Rumelifeneri, Istanbul Rumelifeneri (named after the lighthouse Rumeli Feneri ) is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Sarıyer , Istanbul Province , Turkey . Its population
169-703: Was born in Albi , southern France . A great traveller, he studied the Mediterranean and Orient , producing such works as De Topographia Constantinopoleos et de illius antiquitatibus libri IV, Cosmæ Indopleutes and De Bosphoro Thracio libri III, in which he provided the first written account of the Bosphorus, in Latin, as well as a book about the fish of the Mediterranean . Sent by King Francis I of France to Constantinople in 1544-47 to find ancient manuscripts , he discovered
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