River
Mindo Fluvius
Gümüslük
Listen to the story
Mindo Fluvius ought to mean the river Mindo, yet no such river is known, and none reaches the sea at the place intended: a Carian harbour town at Gümüşlük in Turkey. The copyist probably blended a label for the river Maeander with the town's name, perhaps misled by the crowded lettering. It is just a name with no picture, and the map even sets it in Lycia instead of Caria. Close up, the final o is squeezed small to dodge the river line and eaten away by the corroding pigment of the river. The town itself was known for a wine that, mixed with seawater, served as a digestive.