Jason and the Argonauts and the dove
The Symplegades or Clashing Rocks, also known as the Cyanean Rocks, 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‘ 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.
The European rock is usually identified with an islet, about 20 metres (66 ft) wide and 200 metres (660 ft) long, which stands about 100 metres (330 ft) off the shore of a village called 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.
- Hilary Sumner-Boyd and John Freely, Strolling through Istanbul, 2010 ISBN 978-1-84885-154-2. p. 447
The Asian rock is probably a reef off the Yum Burnu (north of Anadolu Feneri ‘Lighthouse of Anatolia’), described by Gyllius:
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.
As quoted by Freely, p. 448
Names
The 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:
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 …
The 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 article: Planctae
The Symplegades are sometimes identified with (or confused with) the Planctae (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.
In Greek mythology, the Planctae (“Wanderers”) or Wandering Rocks were a group of rocks, between which the sea was mercilessly violent. The Argo (led by Jason) was the only ship to navigate them successfully (with divine help from Hera, Thetis, and the Nereids). Jason chose to brave the Planctae instead of braving Scylla and Charybdis.
In the Odyssey of Homer, the sorceress Circe tells Odysseus of the “Wandering Rocks” or “Roving Rocks” that have only been successfully passed by the Argo when homeward bound. These rocks smash ships and the remaining timbers are scattered by the sea or destroyed by flames. The rocks lie on one of two potential routes to Ithaca; the alternative, which is taken by Odysseus, leads to Scylla and Charybdis. Furthermore, in the Argonautica, it was Hera, for her love of Jason, who sped the Argo through the Symplegades safely.
- Homer, “The Odyssey”, XII, 60–80.
The rocks also appear on the journey in the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, who also locates them near Scylla and Charybdis, but beyond them rather than as an alternative route.
- Apollonius, The Argonautica, 4.782-788
Apollonius distinguishes between two sets of dangerous rocks, the Symplegades and the Planctae. The Symplegades were encountered on the way to the Golden Fleece and the Planctae were encountered on the return voyage. Which god or goddess helped the Argonauts safely sail through the Clashing Rocks is unclear in the text. Athena helped in the former task, while Thetis and her sisters the Nereids helped in the latter one. However, the plans to help Jason pass these obstacles were ultimately orchestrated by Hera according to Apollonius, thus agreeing with Homer.
- Apollonius of Rhodes, “Jason and the Golden Fleece”, Trans. Richard Hunter, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, 1993, p. 158, note 117. Book II, 597–598 and Book IV, 859–958.
The similarities and differences between the Wandering Rocks and the Symplegades has been much debated by scholars, as have potential locations for them. (See also Geography of the Odyssey.) As Scylla and Charybdis have often been located in the Straits of Messina, this has led some (like E. V. Rieu) to suggest the Wandering Rocks were located around Sicily, with their flames and smoke coming from Mount Etna. An alternative theory of the geography of the Odyssey places Circe, the Sirens, Scylla & Charybdis and the Wandering Rocks, all mentioned in the stories of both Jason and Odysseus, in northwest Greece. Tim Severin noted that the island of Sesola off the coast of Lefkada looked very similar to the rocks from the Argo story, and also that the area is near a geological fault; he hypothesises that, due to both its similarity with the legends of the Symplegades and the stories of the Argo sailing home via the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, the original legend was copied to the area. Severin also supports his theory with locations for Scylla and Charybdis being located on the other side of Levkas, noting that the name “Cape Skilla” is still used for a nearby headland on the mainland.
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
- Hilary Sumner-Boyd and John Freely, Strolling through Istanbul, 2010 ISBN 978-1-84885-154-2. p. 447
- As quoted by Freely, p. 448
- Homer, “The Odyssey”, XII, 60–80.
- Apollonius, The Argonautica, 4.782-788
- Apollonius of Rhodes, “Jason and the Golden Fleece”, Trans. Richard Hunter, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, 1993, p. 158, note 117. Book II, 597–598 and Book IV, 859–958.
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
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