Kyzikos (2)Cyzicos

A peninsula which juts into the Propontis (Sea of Marmara) from the Phrygian mainland and a city on that peninsula.

Although not really an island, the peninsula of Kyzikos is often called Bear Island as well as Bear Mountain; a narrow isthmus connects the peninsula with the mainland and the city of Kyzikos is located on the isthmus.

Kyzikos was controlled by various factions of the Greeks until 387-6 BCE when the Persians took the town as part of the Peace of Antalkidas (Antalcidas).

The name may also be rendered as Kyzikus or Cyzicus.

Approximate east longitude 27.90 and north latitude 40.41.

• Anabasis, book 7 ii 5
• Histories, book 4, chapter 100

Labda - The mother of Kypselus (Cypselus) and the wife of Eetion.

Labda was a daughter of the ruling family of the city of Korinth (Corinth), the Bakkhiadae (Bacchiadae), and was forced to marry below her social station because she was lame.

When her son, Kypselus, was born, the oracle at Delphi predicted that the boy would overthrow the Bakkhiadae and establish a new ruling dynasty in Korinth; members of the Bakkhiadae plotted to kill Kypselus but Labda hid Kypselus in a chest and he lived to fulfill the prophecy by ousting the Bakkhiadae and becoming the new tyrant of Korinth.