TATTA LACUS
TATTA LACUS (
ἡ Τάττα), a large salt lake on the frontiers between Lycaonia and Galatia; it had originally belonged to Phrygia, but was afterwards annexed to Lycaonia. Its waters were so impregnated with brine, that any substance dipped into it, was immediately incrusted with a thick coat of salt; even birds flying near the surface had their wings moistened with the saline particles, so as to become incapable of rising into the air, and to be easily caught. (
Strab. xii. p.568;
Plin. Nat. 31.41,
45; Dioscorid. 5.126.) Stephanus Byz. (s. v.
Βοτίειον) speaks of a salt lake in Phrygia, which he calls Attaea (
Ἄτταια), near which there was a town called Botieum, and which is probably the same as Lake Tatta. The Turks now call the lake
Tuzla, and it still provides all the surrounding country with salt. (Leake,
Asia Minor, p. 70.)
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L.S]
