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Key Details
Type
StraitMythology
Greek Pantheon
Coordinates
41.2°N, 29.1°E
About This Location
Clashing rocks at the Bosporus
The Symplegades (Planctae in some naming muddles) are living cliffs that smash what passes. In Argonautica 2 Phineus tells the crew to send a dove; if it lives, row. Athena shoves the Argo through; the rocks freeze apart thereafter. Pindar already knows the feat. There is no cult of the rocks. Later sailors pointed at the Bosporus. The episode is a one-time opening of the Black Sea.
Primary Sources
“They let fly the dove. The rocks sheared her tail-feathers, then they drove the Argo through, and the rocks stood still thereafter.”
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