River
Fl. Maeander
Menderes
Listen to the story
The river Maeander, the Menderes in Turkey, lent its name to every winding stream: the Greek geographer Strabo explains that all twisting courses came to be called meanders after it, and the Roman writer Pliny says it bends so often that it seems to flow back on itself. Ironically, the Tabula draws it without a name and without a single bend, so the identification is only probable. The map lets it rise at Apamea, as most ancient writers do, but its mouth lands well to the right of Miletus rather than to its left, because the map folds the coast of Asia Minor upwards to save space.