Location information

Aretias island

KERASSOUS (Ancient city) PONTOS
  Aretias (Aretias), a small island on the coast of Pontus, 30 stadia east of Pharnacia (Kerasunt), called Areos nesos by Scymnus (Steph. B. s. v. Areos nesos) and Scylax. Here (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 384) the two queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a temple to Ares. Mela (ii. 7) mentions this place, under the name of Area or Aria, an island dedicated to Mars, in the neighbourhood of Colchis. Aretias appears to be the rocky islet called by the Turks Kerasunt Ada, which is between 3 and 4 miles from Kerasunt. The rock is a black volcanic breccia, with imbedded fragments of trap, and is covered in many places with broken oystershells brought by gulls and sea-birds. (Hamilton, Researches, i. 262.) This may explain the legend of the terrible birds that frequented this spot. Pliny (vi. 12) gives to the island also the name of Chalceritis.

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...