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When Darius, on his march from Susa, reached the territory of
Chalcedon on the shores of the Bosphorus, where the bridge had been
made, he took ship and sailed thence to the Cyanean islands, which,
according to the Greeks, once floated. He took his seat also in the
temple and surveyed the Pontus, which is indeed well worthy of
consideration. There is not in the world any other sea so wonderful:
it extends in length eleven thousand one hundred furlongs, and its
breadth, at the widest part, is three thousand three hundred. The
mouth is but four furlongs wide; and this strait, called the
Bosphorus, and across which the bridge of Darius had been thrown, is
a hundred and twenty furlongs in length, reaching from the Euxine to
the Propontis. The Propontis is five hundred furlongs across, and
fourteen hundred long. Its waters flow into the Hellespont, the
length of which is four hundred furlongs, and the width no more than
seven. The Hellespont opens into the wide sea called the Egean.
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