Immundus Sinus
ἀκάθαρτος κόλπος
Immundus Sinus (ἀκάθαρτος κόλπος, Strab. xvii. p.770; Diod. 3.39; Ptol. 4.5.7; Plin. Nat. 6.29. s. 33), the modern Foul Bay, in lat. 22° N., derived its appellation from the badness of its anhorage, and the difficulty of navigating vessels among its numerous reefs and breakers. In its furthest western recess lay the city of Berenice, founded, or rather enlarged, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and so named by him in honour of his mother, the widow of Ptolemy Soter; and opposite its mouth was the island Ophiodes, famous alike for the reptiles which infested it, and its quarries of topaz. The latter was much employed by Aegyptian artisans for ornamenting rings, scarabaei, &c., &c. [BERENICE]
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.