Symplegades

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Symplegades

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Symplegades (pronounced ), also known as the Cyanean Rocks or Clashing Rocks, were a pair of rocks at the Bosporus

Bosporus

The Bosporus or Bosphorus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part ....
that clashed together randomly. They were defeated by Jason

Jason

Jason was a late ancient Greece Greek mythology figure, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus....
and the Argonauts

Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
, who would have been lost and killed by the rocks except for Phineas

Phineas

In Greek mythology, Phineas was a King of Thrace.The name 'Phineas' or 'Phineus' may be associated with the ancient city of Phinea on the Thracian Bosphorus....
' advice. Jason let a dove fly between the rocks; it lost only its tail feathers. The Argonauts rowed mightily to get through and lost only part of the stern ornament.

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Bosporus

Jason

Argonauts

Phineas

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
called them cyaneae insulae.

Lord Byron refers to the Symplegades in the concluding stanzas of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a lengthy narrative poem written by the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron when at Kinsham. It was published between 1812 in poetry and 1818 in poetry....
:

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 the dark Euxine roll'd

Upon the blue Symplegades …

The Wandering Rocks

In the Odyssey

Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
of Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
, the sorceress Circe
Circe

In Greek mythology, Circe , is a Queen goddess living on the island of Aeaea.Circe's father was Helios , the god of the sun and the owner of the land where Odysseus' men ate cattle, and her mother was Hecate the goddess of magic and the moon ; she was sister of two kings of Colchis, Aeetes and Perses, and of Pasipha?, mother of the Mino...
tells Odysseus
Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
of the "Wandering Rocks" or "Roving Rocks" that have only been successfully passed by the Argo

Argo

In Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcus to retrieve the Golden Fleece....
when homeward bound. These rocks smash ships and the remaining timbers are scattered by the sea or destroyed by flames. The rocks lie on one of two potential routes to Ithaca
Ithaca

Ithaca or Ithaka is an island in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of 118 km? and three thousand inhabitants. It is an independent Communities and Municipalities of Greece of the prefecture of Kefalonia and Ithaka Prefecture, and lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia....
; the alternative, which is taken by Odysseus, leads to Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla and Charybdis are two sea monsters of Greek mythology who were situated on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, in Italy....
.

The rocks also appear on the homeward journey in Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes
Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes, also known as Apollonius Rhodius , early 3rd century BCE - after 246 BCE, was a librarian at the Library of Alexandria....
, who also locates them near to Scylla and Charybdis, but beyond them rather than as an alternative route. The Argonauts manage safely to sail through the rocks with the help of Thetis
Thetis

Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths as Proteus ....
and the Nereids
Nereids

In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris . They often accompany Poseidon and are always friendly and helpful towards sailors fighting perilous storms....
.

The similarities and differences between the Wandering Rocks and the Symplegades has been much debated by scholars, as have potential locations for them. (See also Geography of the Odyssey

Geography of the Odyssey

Events in the main sequence of the Odyssey take place in the Peloponnese and in what are now called the Ionian Islands . Incidental mentions of Troy and its neighbourhood, Phoenicia, Egypt and Crete hint at geographical knowledge equal to, or perhaps slightly superior to, that of the Iliad....
.) As Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla and Charybdis are two sea monsters of Greek mythology who were situated on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, in Italy....
have often been located in the Straits of Messina, this has led some (like E. V. Rieu
E. V. Rieu

Emile Victor Rieu is best known for his lucid translations of Homer, as editor of Penguin Classics, and for a modern translation of the four Gospels, which evolved from his role as editor of a projected Penguin translation of the Bible....
) to suggest the Wandering Rocks were located around Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
, with their flames and smoke coming from Mount Etna
Mount Etna

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina, Italy and Catania. Its Arabic name was Jebel Utlamat ....
. An alternative theory of the geography of the Odyssey places Circe, the Siren
Siren

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum...
s, Scylla & Charybdis and the Wandering Rocks, all mentioned in the stories of both Jason and Odysseus, in north west Greece
Geography of the Odyssey

Events in the main sequence of the Odyssey take place in the Peloponnese and in what are now called the Ionian Islands . Incidental mentions of Troy and its neighbourhood, Phoenicia, Egypt and Crete hint at geographical knowledge equal to, or perhaps slightly superior to, that of the Iliad....
. Tim Severin
Tim Severin

Tim Severin is a British explorer and writer.He was born Timothy Severin in Assam, India, and currently lives in Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland, where he owns Argideen River Holiday Lodges....
noted that the island of Seolsa off the coast of Levkas looked very similar to the rocks from the Argo story, and also that the area is near a geological fault, and hypothesised that, due to both its similarity with the legends of the Symplegades
Symplegades

In Greek mythology, the Symplegades , also known as the Cyanean Rocks or Clashing Rocks, were a pair of rocks at the Bosporus that clashed together randomly....
and the stories of the Argo sailing home via the Adriatic

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges....
and Ionian Sea

Ionian Sea

The Ionian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy, including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula, to the west, by southwestern Albania, including Saranda and Himara, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and Lefkas to the east....
s, the original legend was copied to the area. Severin also supported his theory with locations for Scylla and Charybdis being located on the other side of Levkas, noting that the name "Cape Skilla" is still used for a nearby headland on the mainland.

Symplegades

The Wandering Rocks

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