BOSPHORUS. The Prophet Obadiah speaking of the Jews, and their return from the Captivity, says, And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad, or Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the South. There are three Bosphorus’s whither the Hebrews might have been carried. 1. The Cimmerian Bosphorus, at the extremity of the Euxine Sea, between this Sea and the Lake Mœotis. 2. The Thracian Bosphorus, which is that of Constantinople, or the arm of the Sea between Chalcedon and Constantinople. 3. The Bosphorus or Arm which separates Spain from Africk: Each of these Streights is called in Greek, Bosphorus, or rather Bosporus, because an Ox may swim over them; and because the Daughter of Inachus, transformed into an Heifer, swam over the Thracian Streights between Constantinople and Chalcedon. This narrow passage of the Sea is not above five furlongs or five hundred paces over.
Interpreters are divided concerning the Streights which Obadiah speaks of. The Jew whom S. Jerom consulted upon such difficulties as occurr’d to him in the Hebrew1, told him, that the Bosphorus mentioned by the Prophet, was the Cimmerian Bosphorus, whither the Emperor Adrian had banished many of those Jews, whom he had taken prisoners during the War in Palestine; which notwithstanding is a circumstance that we have no account of in History. Others believe, with more reason, that the captives taken notice of by Obadiah were such as Nebuchadnezzar had sent away as far as the Palus Mæotis, about which the country is generally thought to be one of the most frightful in the world, and hither the great Persecutors of the Christians sent frequently the Confessors of our Religion. Lastly, There are others, and those in good number, who understand the Hebrew of Spain, and translate Obadiah thus, The captives of Jerusalem which are at Sepharad, that is to say, in Spain, shall possess the cities of the south. Profane Historians, as Megasthenes2 and Strabo3 assert, that Nebuchadnezzar extended his conquests as far as Africk and Iberia, beyond the Pillars which we apprehend to be those called Hercules’s Pillars. Now in this expedition against Spain, some say that he transported many of the Jews thither. Thus they reconcile the Version, which reads Bosphorus, with the opinion of the Jews, and of such Authors as have followed them in interpreting Sepharad to mean Spain.
But we may very well question whether Sepharad signifies Spain. Some suppose France to be denoted by it, and the old Greek Interpreters have kept to the Hebrew term without changing it in the Translation. In S. Jerom’s time, the Hebrews explained it by Bosphorus. The Septuagint read Ephrata instead of Sepharad. I should think some country beyond the Euphrates to be meant by Sepharad, such as that of the Sapires or Saspires, towards Media; or the city of Hippara in Mesopotamia.
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