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 SECTION II— GRECIAN HISTORY.

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.

Divisions of Greece.—Long arms of the sea divide the Grecian peninsula into three parts, called Northern, Central, and Southern Greece.

Northern Greece included the ancient districts of Thessaly and Epirus. Thessaly consists mainly of a large and beautiful valley, walled in on all sides by rugged mountains. It was celebrated far and wide for the variety and beauty of its scenery. On its northern edge, lay a beautiful glen, called the Vale of Tempe, the only pass by which the plain of Thessaly could be entered from the north. The district of Epirus stretched along the Ionian Sea on the west. In the gloomy recesses of its forests of oak was situated the renowned Dodonean oracle of Zeus.

Central Greece was divided into eleven districts, among which were Phocis, Bœotia, and Attica. In Phocis was the city of Delphi, famous For its oracle and temple; in Bœotia, the city of Thebes; and in Attica, the brilliant Athens.

Southern Greece, or the Peloponnesus, was also divided into eleven provinces, of which the more important were Arcadia, embracing the central part of the peninsula; Achaia, the northern part; Argolis, the eastern; and Messenia and Laconia, the southern. The last district was ruled by the city of Sparta, the great rival of Athens.

Mountains.—The Cambunian Mountains form a lofty wall along a considerable reach of the northern frontier of Greece,