Levant Sea
The Levantine Sea (also: Levantine Sea ) is the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea along the Levant and other coastal areas. It is bordered to the north by the Turkish coast , to the east by Syria , Lebanon , Israel and the Gaza Strip and to the south by Egypt and Libya . In the northwest, the Levant Sea borders the Aegean Sea (especially its southeastern sub-sea, the Carpathian Sea ), and in the west it borders the Libyan Sea . The western border is the line from Cape Ra's al-Hilal on the Libyan coast to the island of Gavdos south of Crete .
The Levant Sea has an area of around 320,000 km². The greatest depth is reached at 4384 meters in the Pliny Trench , about 80 km south of Crete. The largest island in the Levantic Sea is Cyprus .
The northern part of the Levantine Sea between Cyprus and Turkey is also known as the Cilician Sea . There are three bays on the Turkish south coast: the Gulf of Antalya and, further east, the Gulf of Mersin and the Gulf of İskenderun .
In ancient times , the sea area from the Carpathian Sea to the Egyptian coast was called Mare Aegyptum (Egyptian Sea) . The sea area along the coast of what was then Phenicia or today's states of Syria , Lebanon and Israel was called the Phoenician Sea or Latin Mare Phoenicium .