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The Symplegades

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2009

William F. Pickard
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Extract

Classical literature abounds with references to natural phenomena which have no obvious counterparts in the present day; and it is always difficult to know how to interpret such references, whether they should be dismissed forthwith as the excesses of overwrought imaginations, or whether they should be classified as poetic licence, or whether they should be taken more seriously still and explanations sought in terms of subtle or uncommon natural processes which occurred in ancient times as well as modern.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , April 1987 , pp. 1 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1987

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References

Notes

1. Greece & Rome 30 (1983), 125ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Nature (London) 306 (1983), 110Google Scholar.

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14. Op. cit., n. 8 above.

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16. Were the period significantly below this range, then even a naive observer would presumably discover the surface wave origin of the phenomenon and cease to regard it with awe and dread. Were the period significantly above this range, then (a) the seemingly footloose rocks would pose much less danger to intrepidly rowed boats or Euphemus-released doves and (b) the variations of water surface would cease to produce the illusion of motion.

17. Major tsunamis do not qualify as primary causes because (Wiegel, R. L., Oceanographical Engineering (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1964)Google Scholar, esp. ch. 9., or Stoneley, R., Geophysical J. 8 (1963), 64ff.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar they normally have periods of five minutes or more and are, in addition, quite rare. Thus, although a tsunami could readily produce an illusion of moving rocks, it would do so only very seldom, and certainly would not directly produce the illusion of ceaselessly moving rocks, although it might excite a seiche which could produce such an illusion.

18. Kinsman, B., Wind Waves (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965)Google Scholar.

19. Kinsman, op. cit., ch. 3.

20. Wiegel, op. cit., n. 17.

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22. Raichlen, op. cit.

23. Wilson, op. cit.

24. Wilson, op. cit.

25. A tidal bore is a wall of water which can advance up- estuary or up bay on the flow of each tide. Such phenomena can be spectacular. For a discussion see Tricker, R. A. R., Bores, Breakers, Waves, and Wakes (New York, 1965)Google Scholar.

26. Burton, P. W., Nature 315 (1985), 370ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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