Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/271

 1012 GBAECIA. in. CONFXOURATION OF THE SCSFACK. The duun of Lingon and the CambnnUn moan* tains is intersected at right angles, about midway between the Ionian and Aegaean seas, by the long and lofty range of Pindns, ronning from north to south, the baick-bone of Greece, like the Apennines of the Italian peninsula. Mount Pindos fonns the boundary between Thessaly and Epeims. At the thirty-ninth degree of latitude, at a point in the range of Pindns called Mount Tympfaiestos (now Veiukhi), A'arious bnmches radiate, as from a centre. On the east the two chains of Othrys and Oeta branch off towards the sea, the fbnner running nearly due east, and the latter more towards the south-east To the west of Tymphreetns there is no chain of mountains extending towards the western sea and corresponding to the gigantic twins of Othiys and Oeta, but only a continuatioD of the Epebot moun- tains running from north to south. Southward of Tympbrestus the chain of Pindus, which here di- vides into two branches, no longer bears the same name. One strikes south-westward, and passes across Aetolia, under the names of Gorax and Taphi- assus, to the pnxnontory of Antirrhium at the entrance to the Corinthian gulf, opposite the corre- sponding promontory of Rhinm in Peloponnesus. The other diverges to the south-east, passing through Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica, under the names of Parnassus, Helicon, Cithaeron, and Hymettns, down to Suuium, the southernmost point of Attica; but even here it does not end, for the islands of Ceos, CjTthnos, Seriphos and Siphnos may be regarded as a continuance of this chain. Such is a brief sketch of the general direction of the mountain-ranges of Northern Greece; but it is now necessary to enter a little more into detail, re- ferring the reader for a fuller account to the names of the political divisions of the country. Taking Mount Pindus again as our starting-point, we ob- serve that firom it two huge arms brandbi off towards the eastern sea, enclosing the* plain of Thessaly, the richest and bugest in all Greece. These two arms, which run parallel to one another at the distance of 60 miles, have been already mentioned under the names of the Oambunian mountains and Mount Othrys. The Gambunian mountains terminate upon the coast in the lofty summit of Olympus, which is the highest mountain in all Greece, being 9700 feet above the level of the sea, and scarcely ever free from snow. Mount Othrys reaches the sea between the Pagasaean and Malian gulfs. South qf Olym- pus a range of mountains, first called Ossa and after- wards Pelion, stretches along the coast of Thessaly, parallel to Mount Pindus; Ossa is a steep coiuod peak, rising high into the clouds, and, like Olympus, generally covered with snow, while Pelion esihibits a broad and less abrupt outline. Thus Thessaly is enclosed between four natural ramparts, and is only accessible on the north by the celebrated vale of Tempo, between Mounts Olympus and Ossa, through which the Pendns finds its way to the sea. Towards the south, however, Thessaly was open to the sea, which here forms the extensive gulf of Pagasae, the cradle of Greek navigation, from whose shores the Argo was launched. Epeims, the countiy to the west of Pindus, is of an entirely different cha- racter from Thessaly. It contains no plain of any extent, but is almost entirely covered with moun- tains, whose general direction, as already observed, is from nortli to south. GRAECIA. The moontains of the iskod of Eafaoea, wlkh lies opposite to the coasts of Boeotia mad Attica, may be Rgaided as only a cootimiatian «f tiie chaia of Ossa and Pdioa and of that of OUuTa. The mountain-system of Euboea is fiutlier pralaqsed by the islands of Andios, Tenos, Mycoooa, aod liaxas, beloqging to the Gydadcs. At the foot of ML Lacmon (mm Zj/gtiy, te point where Mount Pindns bisects tbe nofthen barrier of HeUaa, four considerable riven taJw tbor rise. Of these riven two, the Aous and the Haliao- mon, do not belong to Hdlas ; the fixmer Ikmmg through Olyria, and the latter throogh Macedooia : but the other two, the Peneius and the Achdoo^ are the most important in Northern Greece. The Peneius flows with a slow and winding eoone through the plain of Thessaly, and finds its way iato the sea through the pass oif Tempe, aa mentiaiird above ; the Achelons, which is the laziger of the two, flows towards the sooth duoogh the mde and mountainous country of Epeiras, then lonna tbs bonndaxy between Acamanis and Aetolia, sod after a course of 130 miles finally falls into the lomaB sea opposite the entrance of the Corinthiaii guUl A little south of Mt. Tymphrestos, at the tlmty. ninth degree of latitude, Greece is contracted into a kind of isthmus by two opposite golfr, tlw Am- bradan on the west and the Malian on the easL This isthmus separates the peninsula of Middta Greece from the Thessalian and Epeirot mainland. The peninimla of Middle Greece may again U divided into two unequal halves. The western fanl^ which bean the names of AetoUa and AcanaauL, is of the same diancter as Epeiras, with which it is connected by the Achelous. The branch sf Mount Pindos which extends finom Moont l^m- phrestus in a soutb-westeriy direction, hetv mstn with the continuation of the Epeirot moontains, and forms rugged and inaccessible highlands, wh^ have been at all times the haunt of robber tribeik There are, however, a few broad and fertile idain^ through which the Adielous flows. The eastern half of the peninsula of midhsd Greece is traversed by the branch of Mount Pindos which extends from Mount Tymjduestas in s sooth- easterly direction. It is shut in on the north by the rugged pile of Oeta, extending from Tym- pbrestus to the sea at Thermopylae, and fennii^ the barrier of this portion of the midland pmin^nlaL The only pass through it is the celebrated one of Thermopylae, between the mountain and a mosas upon the coast, which in one part is so narrow as to leave room fiir only a single carriage. North of Oeta, and between this moontain and the nearly parallel range of Othrys, u a fertile valky about 60 miles in length, stretdiing eastward to the Malic gulf, and drained by the Sporcheius, which rises at the foot of Mount Tymphrestos at the head of the valley and &lls into the Malic gulf. Al- though this valley is usually considered a part of Thessaly, it is entirely separated frvm the great Thessalian plain by the range of Othrys. It has been already remarked that the south- easterly continuation of Mount Puidos passes through Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica, under the names of Parnassus, Helicon, Gitbaen», and Hy- mettns, till it reaches the sea at Sunium. There is, however, another range, which takes its departure from the easterly extremity of Oeta, and extends along the coast of the Euboean sea, through the Locrian tribes and Boeotia, under the varioos names