BOSPORUS, or BOSPHORUS (that is, °Oxford"), the strait, joining the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora, and separating the continents of Europe and Asia, called also the Strait of Constantinople. It is 18 miles long, and varies in width from about 2,000 feet in the middle to about 2y, miles at the northern entrance. The depth is from 20 to 66 fathoms. The swiftness of the currents, and occasional fogs, make navigation dangerous. The strait is defended by a series of strong forts,. and by agreement of the European powers in 1841, confirmed by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, no ship of war belonging to any nation shall pass the strait without the permission of Turkey. At the northern end lies the Golden Horn, one of the finest natural harbors in the world, on either side of which Constantinople is built. Over the middle of the channel Darius con structed a bridge of boats, on his expedition against the Scythians.
During the European War and the unsuccess ful Dardanelles campaign (1915-16), the gauntlet of the Bosporus was run by British submarines which attacked Constantinople. See GALLIPOLI.
The Cimmerian Bosporus was the name given by the ancients to the strait that leads from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov, now the Strait of Kerch or Yenikale, the other Bosporus being distinguished as the Thracian Bosporus. There was anciently a Greek kingdom of the name of Bosporus, so called from the Cimmerian Bosporus, on both sides of which it was situated. The capital of this kingdom was Panticapxum (represented by the modern Kertch), in the Tauric Chersonese, the ancient name of the Crimea. This kingdom was founded about
480 B.C. Spartacus was among the first kings. Under a successor, Satyrus, the kingdom was extended to the coast of Asia, and his son Leucon farther extended it by the conquest of Theodosia. He improved the commerce of the country (in particular by the exporta tion of corn to Athens, also of fish, fur, skins, bees-wax and slaves). From him his descend ants were called Leuconidz. Leucanor became tributary to the Scythians 290 B.c., and the tribute was finally so oppressive that Parisades, the last of the Leuconidae, preferred to sub mit to Mithridates, King of Pontus, who van quished the Scythians under Scilurus 116 B.c., and made his son King of Bosporus. At the death of Mithridates the Romans gave the country, 64 ac., to his second son, Pharnaces, who was afterward murdered. The Romans placed different princes successively upon the throne, who all pretended to be descendants of Mithridates. When this family became ex tinct, 259 A.D., the Sarmatian took possession of the kingdom, from whom it was taken by the Chersonesians in 344. The Tauric Cher sonese then belonged to the Eastern Empire, till it was seized by the Chazars, and after ward by the Tartars, under the Mongol princes. Consult Goryainov,