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Bosphorus=Ox ford

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The Thracian Bosphorus, or Bosporus, unites the Sea of Marmŏra, with the Euxine (2 syl.) or Black Sea. According to Greek fable, Zeus (Jupiter) greatly loved Io, and changed her into a white cow or heifer from fear of Hera or Juno; to flee from whom she swam across the strait, which was thence called bos poros, the passage of the cow. Hera discovered the trick, and sent a gadfly to torment Io, who was made to wander, in a state of phrenzy, from land to land. The wanderings of Io were a favourite subject of story with the ancients. Ultimately, the persecuted Argive princess found rest on the banks of the Nile.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Valerius Flaccus give this account, but Accarion says it was a ship, with the prow of an ox, sent by some Thracians through the straits, that gave name to this passage.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Borr
Borrow
Borrowed days of February (The)
Borrowed days of March
Bortell
Bos[ei] in lingua
Bosh
Bosky
Bosom Friend (A)
Bosom Sermons
Bosphorus=Ox ford
Boss
Bossum
Bostal
Botanomancy
Botany
Botch
Bother
Bothie System
Botley Assizes
Bottes