Myths, legends and... James Bond!

31.7 km long, 550 metres to 3 km wide, and with a maximum depth of 118 metres, this was a strategic channel from the Trojan War (1250 BC) to the founding of Constantinople (AD 330) and the Second World War. It even fascinated James Bond in two chapters of his long-running film series:  From Russia with Love (1963) and Skyfall (2012).

It owes its name (of Thracian origin) to the Greek translation bósporos, literally passage of the ox: that of Io, loved by Zeus and turned into a heifer to evade Hera's jealousy. Zeus had been the victim of a spell, of a love potion Iynx made him drink, which had made him fall in love with the common mortal Io.

Hera, in a fit of jealousy, turned Iynx into a bird and Io into a heifer and condemned her to live her whole life tied to an olive tree. Hera then sent a horsefly to sting her and kill her, but she escaped to the European-Asian border and swam across the channel. Hence the name Bosphorus, or 'cattle passage'. You may wondering whether she made it...

Yes, she did! She arrived in Egypt, where she became a woman and gave birth to Zeus' son, Epaphas, who later became king of Egypt.