Aretias
Ἀρητιάς
Aretias (Ἀρητιάς), a small island on the coast of Pontus, 30 stadia east of Pharnacia (Kerasunt), called Ἄρεος νῆσος by Scymnus (Steph. B. sub voce Ἄρεος νῆσος) and Scylax. Here (Apollon. 2.384) the two queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a temple to Ares. Mela (2.7) mentions this place, under the name of Area or Aria, an island dedicated to Mars, in the neighbourhood of Colchis. Aretias appears to be the rocky islet called by the Turks Kerasunt Ada, which is between 3 and 4 miles from Kerasunt. The rock is a black volcanic breccia, with imbedded fragments of trap, and is covered in many places with broken oystershells brought by gulls and sea-birds.
(Hamilton, Researches, 1.262.) This may explain the legend of the terrible birds that frequented this spot. Pliny (6.12) gives to the island also the name of Chalceritis.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.