I. Geography
(Πόντος Εὔξεινος; Póntos Eúxeinos), modern Black Sea. The ancient description may trace back to the Iranians, who described the sea as achshaenas, 'dark'; transcription into Greek gives áxeinos 'inhospitable'(cf. Ov. Tr. 4,4,55), a description which was euphemistically reinterpreted by sailors as eúxeinos, 'hospitable'; the Greeks also knew the PE as the 'Black Sea' (Eur. Iph. T. 107: πόντος μέλας; póntos mélas). The PE, a subsidiary sea of the Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum), e…