After Sicily and the straits on either side of it,779 there are other seas, for instance, that opposite the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic,780 the Syrtes themselves, and the sea formerly called the Ausonian, but which, as it flows into and forms part of the Sea of Sicily, is now included under the latter name. The sea opposite to the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic is called the Libyan Sea; it extends as far as the Sea of Egypt.
The Lesser Syrtes781 is about 1600 stadia in circumference. On either side of its mouth lie the islands of Meninx782 and Kerkina.783 The Greater Syrtes784 is (according to Eratosthenes) 5000 stadia in circuit, and in depth 1800, from the Hesperides 785 to Automala,786 and the frontier which separates the Cyrenaic from the rest of Libya. According to others, its circumference is only 4000 stadia, its depth 1500 stadia, and the breadth at its mouth the same.
The Sea of Sicily washes Italy, from the Strait of Rhegium787 to Locris,788 and also the eastern coast of Sicily from Messene789 to Syracuse790 and Pachynus.791 On the eastern side it reaches to the promontories of Crete, surrounds the greater part of Peloponnesus, and fills the Gulf of Corinth.792 On the north it advances to the Iapygian Promontory,793 the mouth of the Ionian Gulf,794 the southern parts of Epirus,795 as far as the Ambracic Gulf,796 and the continuation of the coast which forms the Corinthian Gulf, near the Peloponnesus.
The Ionian Gulf forms part of what we now call the Adriatic.797 Illyria forms its right side, and Italy as far as the recess where Aquileia is situated, the left.
The Adriatic stretches north and west; it is long and narrow, being in length about 6000 stadia, and its greatest breadth 1200. There are many islands situated here opposite the coasts of Illyria, such as the Absyrtides,798 Cyrictica,799 and the Libyrnides,800 also Issa,801 Tragurium,802 the Black Corcyra,803 and Pharos.804 Opposite to Italy are the Islands of Diomede.805 The Sea of Sicily is said to be 4500 stadia from Pachynus to Crete, and the same distance to Tænarus in Laconia.806 From the extremities of Iapygia to the bottom of the Gulf of Corinth the distance is less than 3000 stadia, while from Iapygia to Libya it is more than 4000. In this sea are the Islands of Corcyra807 and Sybota,808 opposite the coasts of Epirus; and beyond these, opposite the Gulf of Corinth, Cephallenia,809 Ithaca, Zacynth,810 and the Echinades.811