03.03.2020

Where does the name Black Sea come from? Why is the Black Sea called black? Legends of the ancient Indians and Scythians

Many people wonder why the Black Sea is called black? Is it really black, and what is the reason for this name? The answer to this question can be obtained by flying over it on an airplane - from a height it really looks black, unlike the Mediterranean and other seas. But in fact, the question is rooted far back in history.

And the Bulgarians call him - Black Sea, and the Italians - Marais Nero, and the French - Mer Noir, and the British - Black Sea, and the Germans - Schwarze Meer. Even in Turkish, “Kara-Deniz” is nothing more than “Black Sea”.

Where does such unanimity come from in the name of this amazingly blue sea, captivating us with its radiant serenity? Of course, there are days when the sea is angry, and then its face darkens to bluish-violet... But this happens rarely, and even then only during difficult times for it winter time.

And in clear weather with early spring and up to late autumn The Black Sea will be remembered for a long time for its rich blue, turning into light turquoise tones as it approaches the shore... “The sky wants to be beautiful, the sea wants to be like the sky!” - V. Bryusov said poetically about this. And yet, who and when called this sea the Black Sea?

There is such a fascinating science - toponymy, which studies the origin geographical names(toponyms). According to this science, there are at least two main versions of the origin of the name of the Black Sea.

Version one

It was put forward by the ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo, who lived in the 1st century BC. In his opinion, the sea was called Black by Greek colonists, who were once unpleasantly struck by storms, fogs, unknown wild shores inhabited by hostile Scythians and Taurians... And they gave the stern stranger the appropriate name - Pontos Akseinos - “inhospitable sea”, or “black”. Then, having settled on the shores, becoming related to the sea of good and bright fairy tales, the Greeks began to call it Pontos Evxeinos - “hospitable sea.” But the first name was not forgotten, like the first love...

Version two

In the 1st millennium BC, long before the arrival of careless Greek colonists, on the eastern and northern shores Sea of Azov lived Indian tribes - Meotians, Sindians and others, who gave the name neighboring sea- Temarun, which literally means “black sea.” This was the result of a purely visual comparison of the color of the surface of the two seas, now called the Azov and Black. From the mountainous shores of the Caucasus, the latter appears darker to the observer, as can be seen even now. And if it’s dark, it means black. The Meotians on the shores of the mentioned seas were replaced by the Scythians, who fully agreed with this characterization of the Black Sea. And they called him in their own way - Akhshaena, that is, “dark, black.”

Other versions

The sea was so named because after a storm black silt remains on its shores. But this is not entirely true, the silt is actually gray, not black. Although... who knows how all this was seen in ancient times...

There is another hypothesis about the origin of the name “Black Sea”, put forward by modern hydrologists. The point is that any metal objects, the same anchors of ships, lowered to a certain Black Sea depth, rise to the surface blackened under the influence of hydrogen sulfide located in the depths of the sea. This property was probably noticed since ancient times and, undoubtedly, could have served to assign such a strange name to the sea.

In general, the sea is capable of taking on a wide variety of colors and shades. Let's say, in February-March you can find that the water off the Black Sea coast is not blue, as usual, but brown. This color metamorphosis is a phenomenon of a biological nature, and it is caused by the mass reproduction of the smallest unicellular algae. The water begins to bloom, as people say.

Did you know that the lower layers of the Black Sea water are extremely saturated with hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which makes this water absolutely unsuitable for any kind of life, and the Black Sea is the largest reservoir of hydrogen sulfide on the planet. As we all remember, hydrogen sulfide is a terribly toxic gas, which is used in small doses in medicinal purposes and has a smell rotten egg, and in large doses, a single inhalation of it can cause instant death. Therefore in lower layers waters of the Black Sea, except for anaerobic sulfur bacteria, none Living being cannot live. Luckily for us, the layers of water in the Black Sea do not mix, because if they moved, it could become the largest natural disaster since the end of the last Ice Age.

Why such deposits of hydrogen sulfide formed in the Black Sea, no one can yet say for sure. According to the most common version, it was like this: 7500 years ago the Black Sea was a lake - the deepest freshwater lake, the level of which was more than 100 meters lower than the modern one. After the end of the Ice Age, the level of the World Ocean rose, and salty waters poured into the future Black Sea. All freshwater living creatures that lived in the deep lake, died out, and the product of its decomposition was hydrogen sulfide.

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1899)

"Black Sea"

A sea of fairy tales and mysteries
The Black Sea protects!
The scent of legends is so sweet
The magic of legends is a magnet!

A sea of truths, revelations,
A sea of fiction and secrets,
Sea of thousands of generations
A sea of hundreds of thousands of countries!

Dmitry Rumata “Secrets of the Black Sea”

October 31 is celebrated as International Black Sea Day. On this day in 1996, representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia signed a strategic action plan to save the Black Sea. The need for such a document arose due to the danger of destruction of unique natural complexes water area. At the same time, it was decided to make October 31 International Black Sea Day.

The depths of the Black Sea are fraught with many mysteries. Thousands of years ago, the sea was one with the Caspian, until they were separated by rising land. As a result, the Caspian Sea remained desalinated, and the Black Sea more than once connected with the Mediterranean and became increasingly salty.

The last connection occurred 8 thousand years ago, when the Bosphorus Strait was formed. Due to the salt water, many freshwater inhabitants died. The decomposition of the remains of their organisms created the initial supply of hydrogen sulfide, which still exists today.

No less interesting is the history of the name of the sea, which was not always “Black”. Over the centuries it has changed several names. Greek sailors in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. they called it Pont Aksinsky, which means Inhospitable Sea. Other historical names of the Black Sea are Temarun, Cimmerian, Akhshaena, Scythian, Blue, Tauride, Ocean, Surozh, Holy.

There are several versions of why the sea was called Black.

Turkish hypothesis

According to historical hypothesis, modern name The Black Sea was given to the Turks, who tried to conquer the population of its shores, but met such fierce resistance that the sea was nicknamed Karaden-giz - Black, inhospitable.

Sailors' hypothesis

From the point of view of sailors, the sea is called the Black Sea because of strong storms, during which the water in the sea darkens. True, strong storms are rare on the Black Sea, and strong excitement(more than 6 points) too - no more than 17 days a year. And the change in water color is typical for any sea, not only the Black Sea. They also claim that the sea could be called Black because of the black silt that remains on the shore after a storm. But this silt is more gray than black.

Hydrologists' hypothesis

According to hydrologists, the sea is called Black because any metal objects lowered to great depths rise to the surface blackened. The reason is hydrogen sulfide, which is saturated in the Black Sea water at a depth of more than 200 m.

Because of hydrogen sulfide, the Black Sea is also called sea of the dead depths The thing is that the water does not mix well there, and hydrogen sulfide accumulates at the bottom. This is a waste product of bacteria that large quantities live in the depths. They decompose the corpses of animals and plants. Starting from a depth of 150-200 m, there is no other life in the Black Sea. Over millions of years, bacteria have accumulated more than a billion tons of hydrogen sulfide.

Mysterious glow

Peridene algae give the Black Sea water a mysterious glow. Together with her, tiny luminous predators live in the water - noctilucs, or night lights. They will glow even if you filter them from water and dry them. The glow is caused by a substance that scientists named “luciferin” in honor of the lord of hell Lucifer.

In addition to the predators of nocturnals, some species of jellyfish glow in the water of the Black Sea at night. The most common jellyfish are Aurelia and Cornerot jellyfish. Aurelia is the smallest black sea jellyfish, it is rarely more than 30 cm in diameter. Cornerot is the largest local jellyfish; the size of its dome can reach half a meter in diameter. Aurelia is not poisonous, but cornet can cause a burn similar to that of nettles.

Why is there no oxygen at the bottom?

Due to the desalination of the Black Sea by rivers, there are two layers of water in it. Superficial, to a depth of about 100 m, mainly of river origin, and into the depths of the sea along the bottom of the Bosphorus more salty water. The salinity of the bottom layers reaches 30 grams of salt per liter of water, and on the surface it is twice as fresh - 17 grams of salt per liter of water. Water stratification prevents vertical mixing of the sea and enrichment of the depths with oxygen.

Salinity of the surface layer Black Sea water is 17 grams of salt per liter of water, which is two times lower than ocean water. This is too small for most marine organisms, so undersea world The Black Sea is relatively sparse in diversity. But total weight living organisms is great. After all, the very rivers that desalinate the Black Sea bring nutrients, necessary for the development of marine vegetation. Therefore, there is a lot of plankton in the Black Sea, and algae grow thickly along the shores.

"Healing" jellyfish

Some vacationers believe in healing power jellyfish and deliberately seek meetings with them. It is believed that jellyfish venom can cure radiculitis. It's a delusion. Such “therapy” will only cause suffering to both the jellyfish and the person: for example, the root can cause a burn similar to a nettle burn, burning, redness, and blisters will appear. To prevent the cornet from causing harm, it is enough to move this jellyfish away from you with your hand, grasping the upper part of the dome, which has no tentacles.

The most dangerous inhabitants Black Sea

Sea ruff, or black sea scorpionfish, looks creepy: a head covered with growths, bulging eyes, a mouth with sharp teeth. Instead of the rays of the dorsal fin there are spines, at the base of each there is a poisonous gland. There are scorpionfish different color- black, gray, yellow, pink. The wounds from its thorns cause severe pain. The main symptoms of poisoning are local inflammation and a general allergic reaction. There are no known deaths from scorpionfish injections.

Sea dragon- a snake-like bottom-dwelling fish with bulging eyes and a huge mouth. The rays of its dorsal fin contain poisonous spines. It lies in wait for prey, buried in sand or silt. If you step on a baby dragon and get hurt, you will have to urgently run to the pharmacy for an antihistamine to relieve the allergic reaction and inflammation.

They live in the Black Sea stingray(sea cat) and stingray sea fox. You should be wary of the spines that are located on the tail of stingrays. In the stingray, this spine represents real sword up to 20 cm in length. He can inflict a deep chopped wound on them.

The only Black Sea shark - katran- usually no more than a meter in length. She is afraid of people and rarely comes to the shore, she stays cold water depths It can only pose a danger to fishermen when they take it with their hands - dorsal fins Katranas are equipped with large poisonous spines. Katran's liver contains a substance that helps patients with certain forms of cancer. There is even a drug called “katrex”, which is made from the liver of a Black Sea shark.

The most harmless inhabitants of the Black Sea depths

The most common shellfish in the Black Sea are mussels, brine, oysters and scallops. They are edible. Oysters on Black Sea coast Kuban is rare, and all the coastal stones and piers are covered with mussels. They need to be boiled or fried before eating. It is not recommended to eat mussels caught in the port or near sewage treatment plants: after all, these are real living filters that pass through a huge amount of sea water.

Among the mollusks that live in the Black Sea are scallops. They have about a hundred eyes, but are completely blind. In place of the removed eye, a new one appears in the scallops. It is unclear why scallops need eyes. They move very briskly: the mollusk slams the valves of its shell with force, and a stream of water carries it a meter or two forward.

The largest and most unusual crab of the Black Sea, the blue crab Callinectes sapidus, is found in the coastal soil. It is bright blue. Its homeland is the east coast of the USA. It entered the Black Sea in the 1960s. from the Mediterranean, and there, most likely, was transported with the ballast waters of ships. True, over the years of life in the Black Sea, the blue crab was never able to truly spread. Winter temperature the water is too low for him.

In the shallow waters of the Black Sea lives the gerbil fish, or sand miner. While swimming underwater, you can sometimes stumble upon a shiny silver and, in addition, moving wall made up of a flock of gerbils. Fish that look like silver worms hide in the sand and rise up unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, filling everything around them. In a moment, they will disappear just as quickly - they will dive into the sand.

The material was prepared by the editors of rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

October 31 is celebrated as International Black Sea Day. On this day in 1996, representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia signed a strategic action plan to save the Black Sea. The need for such a document arose due to the danger of destruction of the unique natural complexes of the water area. At the same time, it was decided to make October 31 International Black Sea Day.

There are several versions of why the sea was called Black.

Turkish hypothesis

According to the historical hypothesis, the modern name of the Black Sea was given by the Turks, who tried to conquer the population of its shores, but met such fierce resistance that the sea was nicknamed Karaden-giz - Black, inhospitable.

Sailors' hypothesis

From the point of view of sailors, the sea is called the Black Sea because of strong storms, during which the water in the sea darkens. True, strong storms are rare on the Black Sea, and strong waves (more than 6 points) too - no more than 17 days a year. And the change in water color is typical for any sea, not only the Black Sea. They also claim that the sea could be called Black because of the black silt that remains on the shore after a storm. But this silt is more gray than black.

Hydrologists' hypothesis

Because of hydrogen sulfide, the Black Sea is also called the sea of dead depths. The thing is that the water does not mix well there, and hydrogen sulfide accumulates at the bottom. This is a product of the vital activity of bacteria that live in large numbers in the depths. They decompose the corpses of animals and plants. Starting from a depth of 150-200 m, there is no other life in the Black Sea. Over millions of years, bacteria have accumulated more than a billion tons of hydrogen sulfide.

Mysterious glow

In addition to the predators of nocturnals, some species of jellyfish glow in the water of the Black Sea at night. The most common jellyfish are Aurelia and Cornerot jellyfish. Aurelia is the smallest Black Sea jellyfish; it is rarely more than 30 cm in diameter. Cornerot is the largest local jellyfish; the size of its dome can reach half a meter in diameter. Aurelia is not poisonous, but cornet can cause a burn similar to that of nettles.

Why is there no oxygen at the bottom?

Due to the desalination of the Black Sea by rivers, there are two layers of water in it. Superficial, to a depth of about 100 m, mainly of river origin, and more salty water flows into the depths of the sea along the bottom of the Bosphorus. The salinity of the bottom layers reaches 30 grams of salt per liter of water, and on the surface it is twice as fresh - 17 grams of salt per liter of water. Water stratification prevents vertical mixing of the sea and enrichment of the depths with oxygen.

The salinity of the surface layer of the Black Sea water is 17 grams of salt per liter of water, which is two times lower than that of the ocean. This is too small for most marine organisms, so the underwater world of the Black Sea is relatively sparsely diverse. But the total mass of living organisms is large. After all, the very rivers that desalinate the Black Sea bring nutrients necessary for the development of marine vegetation. Therefore, there is a lot of plankton in the Black Sea, and algae grow thickly along the shores.

"Healing" jellyfish

Some vacationers believe in the healing power of jellyfish and deliberately seek encounters with them. It is believed that jellyfish venom can cure radiculitis. It's a delusion. Such “therapy” will only cause suffering to both the jellyfish and the person: for example, the root can cause a burn similar to a nettle burn, burning, redness, and blisters will appear. To prevent the cornet from causing harm, it is enough to move this jellyfish away from you with your hand, grasping the upper part of the dome, which has no tentacles.

The most dangerous inhabitants of the Black Sea

Sea ruff, or Black Sea scorpionfish, looks creepy: a head covered with outgrowths, bulging eyes, a mouth with sharp teeth. Instead of the rays of the dorsal fin there are spines, at the base of each there is a poisonous gland. There are scorpionfish of different colors - black, gray, yellow, pink. The wounds from its thorns cause severe pain. The main symptoms of poisoning are local inflammation and a general allergic reaction. There are no known deaths from scorpionfish injections.

They live in the Black Sea stingray(sea cat) and sea fox stingray. You should be wary of the spines that are located on the tail of stingrays. In the stingray, this spine is a real sword up to 20 cm in length. He can inflict a deep chopped wound on them.

The only Black Sea shark - katran- usually no more than a meter in length. She is afraid of people and rarely comes to the shore; she stays in the cold water of the depths. It can pose a danger only for fishermen when they take it with their hands - the dorsal fins of the katran are equipped with large poisonous spines. Katran's liver contains a substance that helps patients with certain forms of cancer. There is even a drug called “katrex”, which is made from the liver of a Black Sea shark.

The most harmless inhabitants of the Black Sea depths

The most common shellfish in the Black Sea are mussels, brine, oysters and scallops. They are edible. Oysters are rare on the Black Sea coast of Kuban, and all the coastal stones and piers are covered with mussels. They need to be boiled or fried before eating. It is not recommended to eat mussels caught in the port or near sewage treatment plants: after all, these are real living filters that pass through a huge amount of sea water.

The material was prepared by the editors of rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

There are several seas that have some color in their name - Yellow, Red, Black and others. Today we will figure out why the Black Sea was called the Black Sea.

It would seem that the most obvious answer is actually the most incorrect. After all, what comes to mind is probably that the Black Sea is called the Black Sea because it is always black in color. However, it is not. After all, you must admit, many other seas can also have a black color in different periods- it never occurred to anyone to call them black. And the Black Sea is not always black.

It is known for certain that the modern name of the sea was given by nomadic Turkic peoples who came from Central Asia. Kara Dengiz - that was the name of the sea in their language back then. And from them it migrated to most other languages.

Some popular versions of the origin of the name of the Black Sea are legendary. For example, there is a legend about a hero with a golden arrow that can cut the earth into pieces. The hero hid the arrow in the depths of the sea, and when he tried to return it, the sea resisted, became raging and turned black - that’s how it became Black.

Another legend says that hidden in the waters of the sea is not an arrow, but a powerful sword that can kill everything on earth. The spirits of the sea continually try to get rid of it, so the sea is often stormy and dark.

Well, how could there be no tragic ones? love stories- there is a legend about a black-haired beauty who drowned in the sea because of a misfortune that happened to her beloved. From her grief and black hair, the sea acquired a dark color and became Black forever.

The most reliable explanation for the origin of the name is considered to be the observation of sailors who often sailed here since ancient times. The sea seemed inhospitable during the storms that occurred here periodically. Even the ancient Greeks called it Pont Aksinsky - the Inhospitable Sea.

There are, of course, other hypotheses that are put forward by modern researchers. For example, that the color designation is taken from languages in which colors denoted cardinal directions and “black” referred to “north”, i.e. The Black Sea is the North Sea for such peoples.

Another version is that anchors and other metal objects turned black in the sea water if they lay in them for long enough. Scientists attribute this effect to hydrogen sulfide, which is abundantly released in the depths of the Black Sea.

The name of the sea could also be given by black algae, which abundantly cover the seashore and float in the coastal strip.

There is also a version that the Bible scribes made a mistake when rewriting sacred texts that included the Red Sea (“red” meant “beautiful”).

Why are there no sharks in the Black Sea?

In fact, there are two types of sharks in the Black Sea, which are not dangerous to people. This - Black Sea katran(another name is “Prickly shark”), one of the types of katran - the most common shark in the world. And also the scyllum shark ("Cat shark").

Katran
Scyllum (Cat Shark)

Sharks, dangerous to humans, could potentially enter the Black Sea from Mediterranean Sea. However, even if they get into the Black Sea, these predators will not survive there. Firstly, the waters of the Black Sea have low salinity (in some places - up to 17%). Secondly, the depths of the Black Sea, as it has already turned out, are rich in hydrogen sulfide, which can be destructive for sharks. At the same time, in the Black Sea there is not enough food for sharks, compared to other seas - the Black Sea is not so rich in fish. That is why there are no sharks in the Black Sea - well, with the exception of Katrans and Scyllums.

Why are there a lot of jellyfish in the Black Sea?

In fact, there are a lot of jellyfish in the Black Sea, not everywhere and not always. Jellyfish appear in the Black Sea in August-September, the water at this time is warm, and there is a lot of food for jellyfish. Jellyfish become visible and invisible, of various sizes.

In some areas of the Black Sea there are a lot of jellyfish, because there is an excellent food supply for them, in others there are fewer or not, since they have nothing to eat there. Well, currents also play a certain role, transporting jellyfish from place to place - after all, these are not fish that can calmly swim to this or that area of the sea, jellyfish swim mainly with the flow.

You also need to take into account that jellyfish, like all creatures, have natural enemies, from which they also try to stay away. Therefore, in some places there are also clusters of jellyfish, and in others there are not.

And in clear weather from early spring to late autumn, the Black Sea will be remembered for a long time for its rich blue, turning into light turquoise tones as it approaches the shore... “The sky wants to be beautiful, the sea wants to be like the sky!” – V. Bryusov said poetically about this. And yet, who and when called this sea the Black Sea?

There is such a fascinating science - toponymy, which studies the origin of geographical names (toponyms). According to this science, there are at least two main versions of the origin of the name Black Sea.

Version one. It was put forward by the ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo, who lived in the 1st century BC. In his opinion, the sea was called Black by Greek colonists, who were once unpleasantly struck by storms, fogs, unknown wild shores inhabited by hostile Scythians and Taurians... And they gave the stern stranger the appropriate name - Pontos Akseinos- “inhospitable sea”, or “black”. Then, having settled on the shores, becoming related to the sea of good and bright fairy tales, the Greeks began to call it Pontos Evxeinos - “hospitable sea.” But the first name was not forgotten, like the first love...

Version two. In the 1st millennium BC, long before the appearance of careless Greek colonists here, Indian tribes lived on the eastern and northern shores of the Sea of Azov - Meotians, Sindians and others, who gave the name to the neighboring sea - Temarun, which literally means “black sea". This was the result of a purely visual comparison of the color of the surface of the two seas, now called the Azov and Black. From the mountainous shores of the Caucasus, the latter appears darker to the observer, as can be seen even now. And if it’s dark, it means black. The Meotians on the shores of the mentioned seas were replaced by the Scythians, who fully agreed with this description Black Sea. And they called him in their own way - Akhshaena, that is, “dark, black.”

There are other versions. For example, one of them says that the sea was so named because after a storm black silt remains on its shores. But this is not entirely true, the silt is actually gray, not black. Although... who knows how all this was seen in ancient times...

In addition, there is another hypothesis about the origin of the name “ Black Sea", put forward by modern hydrologists. The fact is that any metal objects, the same anchors of ships, lowered to a certain depth in the Black Sea, rise to the surface blackened under the influence of hydrogen sulfide located in the depths of the sea. This property was probably noticed since ancient times and, undoubtedly, could have served to assign such a strange name to the sea.

In general, the sea is capable of taking on a wide variety of colors and shades. Let's say, in February-March you can find that the water off the Black Sea coast is not blue, as usual, but brown. This color metamorphosis is a biological phenomenon, and it is caused by the mass reproduction of the smallest unicellular algae. The water begins to bloom, as people say.

There are many interesting things in the “color scheme” of the Black Sea. In all other respects, there are countless amazing and entertaining things...

A sea of fairy tales and mysteries
The Black Sea protects!
The scent of legends is so sweet
The magic of legends is a magnet!

A sea of truths, revelations,
A sea of fiction and secrets,
Sea of thousands of generations
A sea of hundreds of thousands of countries!

Dmitry Rumata “Secrets of the Black Sea”

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Where does the name Black Sea come from? Why is the Black Sea called black? Legends of the ancient Indians and Scythians

Why are there no sharks in the Black Sea?

Why are there a lot of jellyfish in the Black Sea?

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