MÆOTIS PALUS or LACUS, Mæotis Palus, or Mæoticus Lacus, (anc. geog.), a large lake or part of the sea between Europe and Asia, at the north of the Euxine, to which it communicates by the Cimerian Bosporus. It was worshipped as a deity by the Mæfagete. It extends about 390 miles from south-west to north-east, and is about 600 miles in circumference. Still called Palus Mæotis, reaching from Crum Tartary to the mouth of the Don.