Editing Symplegades

{{Short description|Pair of rocks in Greek mythology}}
[[File:Symplegades, illustration for The Heroes.jpg|thumb|Illustration by [[Howard Davie]] for ''The Heroes'' by [[Charles Kingsley]].]]
The '''Symplegades''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɪ|m|ˈ|p|l|ɛ|ɡ|ə|d|iː|z}}; {{langx|el|Συμπληγάδες}}, ''Symplēgádes''), also known as '''Clashing Rocks''' or '''Cyanean Rocks''' (Κυανέαι), were, according to [[Greek mythology]], a pair of rocks at the [[Bosphorus]] that clashed together whenever a vessel went through. They were defeated by [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]], who would have been lost and killed by the rocks except for [[Phineus]]'s advice. Jason let a dove fly between the rocks to see exactly how fast they'd have to row to beat the rocks; the dove lost only its tail feathers. The Argonauts rowed mightily to get through and lost only part of the stern ornament. After that, the Symplegades stopped moving permanently.

[[File:Kayalıklar... - panoramio (3).jpg|thumb|Rocky islet at Rumelifeneri]]
The European rock is usually identified with an islet, about {{convert|20|m|ft}} wide and {{convert|200|m|ft}} long, which stands about {{convert|100|m|ft}} off the shore of a village called [[Rumelifeneri, Istanbul|Rumelifeneri]] ('Lighthouse of [[Rumeli]]'), and is connected to it by a modern concrete [[jetty]]. At its highest point, there is an ancient [[altar]] known as the '''Pillar of Pompey''', though it has nothing to do with [[Pompey]].  [[Dionysius of Byzantium]] mentions a Roman shrine to [[Apollo]] on one of the Cyanean Rocks, and the 16th-century French traveller [[Petrus Gyllius]] thought the altar was a remnant of that shrine.<ref name="freely">Hilary Sumner-Boyd and John Freely, ''Strolling through Istanbul'', 2010 {{ISBN|978-1-84885-154-2}}. p. 447</ref>

The Asian rock is probably a [[reef]] off the [[Yum Burnu]] (north of [[Anadolu Feneri]] 'Lighthouse of Anatolia'), described by Gyllius:
<blockquote>
The reef is divided into four rocks above water which, however, are joined below; it is separated from the continent by a narrow channel filled with many stones, by which as by a staircase one can cross the channel with dry feet when the sea is calm; but when the sea is rough, waves surround the four rocks into which I said the reef is divided.  Three of these are low and more or less submerged, but the middle one is higher than the European rock, sloping up to an acute point and roundish right up to its summit; it is splashed by the waves but not submerged and is everywhere precipitous and straight.<ref>As quoted by Freely, p. 448</ref>
</blockquote>

==Names==
The [[Roman Empire|Romans]] called them ''Cyaneae Insulae'' ("Blue Islands"), and in Turkish they are called ''Öreke Taşı'' ("Distaff Rock" or "Midwife's Stool").

==In literature==
[[Lord Byron]] refers to the Symplegades in the concluding stanzas of ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'':
{{poemquote|And from the Alban Mount we now behold
Our friend of youth, that ocean, which when we
Beheld it last by Calp's rock unfold
Those waves, we follow on till the dark Euxine roll'd
Upon the blue Symplegades&nbsp;...}}

The [[New Criticism|New Critic]] [[I. A. Richards]] refers to 'Symplegades' in his work [[Practical Criticism]]. In Chapter 2, 'Figurative Language', he refers to dangers of misinterpretation in reading poems:
"These twin dangers - careless, 'intuitive' reading and prosaic, 'over-literal' reading - are the Symplegades, the 'justling rocks', between which too many ventures into poetry are wrecked."

In his 1961 novel ''Jason'', [[Henry Treece]] depicts the Symplegades as icebergs that drifted downriver into the Black Sea.

==The Wandering Rocks==
{{main|Planctae}}
The Symplegades are sometimes identified with (or confused with) the [[Planctae]] ({{lang|grc|Πλαγκταί}}) or Wandering Rocks, which are mentioned in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' and [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]''.  In Apollonius's telling, the Symplegades were encountered on the way to the [[Golden Fleece]] and the Planctae were encountered on the return voyage.

The similarities and differences between the Wandering Rocks and the Symplegades have been much debated by scholars, as have potential locations for them. (See also [[Geography of the Odyssey]].)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*[[Apollonius of Rhodes]]. ''[[Argonautica]]'' II, 317–340, 549610; IV, 795-979
*[[Homer]]. ''[[Odyssey]]'' XII, 55–72.
*[[E. V. Rieu]]. "Glossary" in ''The Voyage of Argo – The Argonautica – A new translation by E. V. Rieu'' ([[London]]; [[Penguin Books]], 1959)
*[[Tim Severin]] ''The Ulysses Voyage: The search for the Odyssey'' ([[London]]; [[Arrow Books]], 1987) pages 200–214

==External links==
{{Commonscat|Symplegades}}
*http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/symplegades.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608060821/http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/symplegades.html |date=2007-06-08 }}
*[http://livingheritage.org/symplegades.htm Symplegades | Livingheritage]
*http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/Places/symplegades.htm
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/zedstar/sets/72157626285690691/detail/ The Clashing Rocks | Flickr]

[[Category:Mythological islands]]
[[Category:Locations in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Argonautica]]