but more bracing and variable. It also varied in various sections.

These various sections, or provinces, or states, into which Greece was
divided, claim a short notice.

(M287) The largest and most northerly State was Epirus, containing four
thousand two hundred and sixty square miles, bounded on the north by
Macedonia, on the east by Thessaly, on the south by Acarnania, and on the
west by the Ionian Sea. Though mountainous, it was fertile, and produced
excellent cattle and horses. Of the interesting places of Epirus,
memorable in history, ranks first Dodona, celebrated for its oracle, the
most ancient in Greece, and only inferior to that of Delphi. It was
founded by the Pelasgi before the Trojan war and was dedicated to Jupiter.
The temple was surrounded by a grove of oak, but the oracles were latterly
delivered by the murmuring of fountains. On the west of Epirus is the
island of Corcyra (Corfu), famous for the shipwreck of Ulysses, and for
the gardens of Aleinous, and for having given rise to the Peloponnesian
war. Epirus is also distinguished as the country over which Pyrrhus ruled.
The Acheron, supposed to communicate with the infernal regions, was one of
its rivers.

(M288) West of Epirus was Thessaly, and next to it in size, containing
four thousand two hundred and sixty square miles. It was a plain inclosed
by mountains; next to Boeotia, the most fertile of all the States of
Greece, abounding in oil, wine, and corn, and yet one of the weakest and
most insignificant politically. The people were rich, but perfidious. The
river Peneus flowed through the entire extent of the country, and near its
mouth was the vale of Tempe, the most beautiful valley in Greece, guarded
by four strong fortresses.

(M289) At some distance from the mouth of the Peneus was Larissa, the city
of Achilles, and the general capital of the Pelasgi. At the southern
extremity of the lake Caelas, the largest in Thessaly, was Pherae, one of
the most ancient cities in Greece, and near it was the fountain of
Hyperia. In the southern part of Thessaly was Pharsalia, the battle-ground
between Caesar and Pompey, and near it was Pyrrha, formerly called Hellas,
where was the tomb of Hellen, son of Deucalion, whose descendants, AEolus,
Dorus and Ion, are said to have given name to the three nations, AEolians,
Dorians, and Ionians, Still further south, between the inaccessible cliffs
of Mount OEta and the marshes which skirt the Maliaeus Bay, were the