The name Thalatta originates from the Greek word meaning the sea (see Thalatta! Thalatta!).
According to Xenophon's Anabasis, "The Sea! The Sea!" (Thalatta! Thalatta!) was the shout of triumphant exultation given by the roaming 10,000 Greeks when, in 401BC, they caught sight of the Black Sea from Mount Theches in Trebizond and realised they were saved from near-certain death.