Buces

BUCES or BUGES LACUS (Plin. Nat. 4.12. s. 26), BYCE or BYCES (ἡ Βύκη λίμνη, Ptol. 4.5. § § 9, 10), BICES (Val. Flacc. Arg. 6.68), an almost enclosed gulf at the end of the Palus Maeotis (Sea of Azov), from which it is separated, says Pliny, by a ridge of rock (petroso dorso, now called the Kosa Arabatskaia: it is, however, rather sandy than rocky). Ptolemy mentions it as the E. boundary of the isthmus of the Tauric Chersonesus (Crimea). Strabo (7. p. 308) gives a more particular description of it under the name of ἡ Σαπρὰ λίμνη, the Putrid Lake, by which it is still called; in Russian, Sibaché (or Sivaché) Moré. He describes it as 4000 stadia in length, and as the W. part of the Palus Maeotis, with which it is united by a large mouth (the strait is in fact only a furlong wide); it is very marshy, and scarcely navigable by boats made of hides sewn together, as the shallows are readily uncovered and covered again by the winds. (Strab. l. c.) It is in fact a great lagoon, covered with water when an E. wind blows the water of the Sea of Azov in at its narrow opening, but at other times a tract of pestilential mud. Mela (2.1), Pliny, and Ptolemy mention a river of the same name, the exact position of which is doubtful. (Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2, pp. 170, 201, 356, 422, 462.)