Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 13
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed. London, 1855.
Chap. 13. (12.) — The Islands of the Euxine.
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The islands of the Euxine are the Placate or Cyaneæ1, otherwise called Symplegades, and Apollonia, surnamed Thynias2, to distinguish it from the island of that name3 in Europe; it is four miles in circumference, and one mile distant from the mainland. Opposite to Pharnacea4 is Chalceritis, to which the Greeks have given the name of Aria5, and consecrated it to Mars; here, they say, there were birds that used to attack strangers with blows of their wings.
Foot Notes
1 Already mentioned in B. iv. c. 27.
2 Mentioned in c. 44 of the last Book.
3 The one lying at the mouth of the Danube, and mentioned in B. iv. c. 27.
4 Mentioned in c. 4 of the present Book. See p. 9.
5 Or "Mars' Island," also called Aretias; at this island, in the south of the Euxine, the two queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a temple in honour of Ares or Mars. It is thought to be the rocky islet called by the Turks Kerasunt Ada, between three and four miles from Kerasunt, the ancient Pharnacea.