1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Marmora, Sea of

MARMORA, SEA OF (anc. Propontis; Turk. Mermer Denisi), the small inland sea which (in part) separates the Turkish dominions in Europe from those in Asia, and is connected through the Bosporus with the Black Sea (q.v.) and through the Dardanelles with the Aegean. It is 170 m. long (E. to W.) and nearly 50 m. in extreme width, and has an area of 4500 sq. m. Its greatest depth is about 700 fathoms, the deepest parts (over 500 fathoms) occurring in three depressions in the northern portion—one close under the European shore to the south of Rodosto, another near the centre of the sea, and a third at the mouth of the Gulf of Ismid. There are several considerable islands, of which the largest, Marmora, lies in the west, off the peninsula of Kapu Dagh, along with Afsia, Aloni and smaller islands. In the east, off the Asiatic shore between the Bosporus and the Gulf of Ismid, are the Princes’ Islands.