Symplegades
The Symplegades, also known as the Clashing Rocks or the Cyanean Rocks, are two formidable rocky formations located at the northern entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus, leading into the Black Sea. In Greek mythology, these rocks were notorious for their dangerous, violent collisions, which posed a significant threat to passing ships. The myth recounts how the Argonauts, aboard the vessel Argo, successfully navigated this perilous passage with divine assistance from the goddess Athena and the advice of King Phineus. They tested the rocks' unpredictable movements by sending a dove through the gap; when the dove made it through, so did the Argo, marking the rocks' transition to a stationary state thereafter. These legendary rocks are sometimes conflated with the Planctae, or Wandering Rocks, which feature in Homer's Odyssey but are described in a different context, suggesting a complex web of maritime mythology. The Symplegades serve not only as geographical landmarks but also as symbols of the challenges faced by ancient travelers, reflecting the interplay of human courage and divine intervention in mythological narratives.
Subject Terms
Symplegades
the `Clashing Rocks.’
Two rocks on either side of the northern entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus, leading into the Euxine (Black) Sea. Also known as the Cyanean (Blue) Rocks, they were believed to have clashed together, from time to time, with enormous force when driven by the wind. According to Greek myth, they prevented ships from entering the Euxine Sea until the Argo, the vessel of the Argonauts, made the passage successfully, with the help of the goddess Athena and the Thracian King Phineus, who had advised them to test the rocks by seeing if a dove could fly between them before their moment of impact. The dove got through, and so did the Argo. Thereafter the Symplegades remained stationary for evermore.
A similar story was told of the Planctae (Wandering Rocks), which were sometimes identified with the Symplegades and may have been their older name. According to Homer's Odyssey, on the other hand, Odysseus encountered Planctae in another region altogether, that is to say north of Sicily—the poet had Strongyle (Stromboli) and Strombalicchio in mind, according to a modern suggestion—and chose, on Circe's advice, to steer clear of them, preferring to brave the terrors of Scylla and Charybdis instead; while Apollonius Rhodius describes the Argo as passing between both the Symplegades (of the Bosphorus) and the Planctae (off Sicily), with the assistance not of Athena but of Hera.