Sea or bay

Igeum Mare

Aegean Sea · Aigaio Pelagos (Barrington)

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Igeum Mare, the Aegean Sea, is lettered on the Tabula with evident care, and yet the name sits far from where that sea actually lies. The Roman writer Pliny recorded several ancient explanations for it: some traced it to Aegeus, father of the hero Theseus, others to the town of Aigai on Euboea, or to a rock called Aix, the goat, between the islands of Tenos and Chios. Ancient sailors knew it as a sea that is quickly whipped up and just as quickly calm again, yet it remained the oldest and easiest route between Greece and Asia.

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