On scrutinizing different interpretations of Hipponax’ Fr. 4b (Degani) the author of the present paper came to a conclusion that previous attempts to localize the “Sindian opening” had been unsuccessful because of the misinterpretation of the word διάσφαγμα. The attested contexts suggest two meanings of the word: 1) ‘an opening in the surface of the land, a gorge’ and 2) ‘a cave-like opening,’ or ‘a hiding place under the ground or in a mountain’, synonymous with κευθμών. If Hipponax had the second meaning in mind, then he probably referred to some cave in the Sindica, which may have been familiar to his Ionian audience. It could be the same hiding place (κευθμών) where according to Strabo the deception and slaughter of the Giants by Aphrodite with the help of Heracles took place (Str. 11. 2. 10). The legend about Aphrodite Apatouros, one of the most prominent deities in the Bosporus region (in particular in its Asiatic part), and her cult were doubtless among the most conspicuous features of local religion and, for that reason, would have been known to Ionians visiting the area. Besides, the Near Eastern connections of the local Aphrodite cult, reflected in the name Astara under which she was worshipped by local people, make the sexual deceit of the Giants by Aphrodite in the Bosporan myth appear like a reflection of the Eastern conception of Ishtar-Astarta punishing men by impotence. This image of the Bosporan Aphrodite would explain why Hipponax used the phrase Sindian opening in the obscene meaning of γυναικεῖον αἰδοῖον. It cannot be ruled out that he played on the already existing indecent meaning of διάσφαγμα by connecting it to the myth about the “licentious” goddess and her cave. The latter probably determined the lasting fame of Sindian women as sexually depraved to which Hesichius’ entry Σινδίς· ἡ Σκυθία. καὶ ἡ πόρνη appears to refer.
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