_Northern Greece_ contained two principal countries, _Thessaly_ and _Epirus_, separated from one another by the _Pindus_. Thessaly was the largest and most fertile of the Grecian states. The _Peneus_, into which poured the mountain streams, passed to the sea through a narrow gorge, the famous _Vale of Tempe_. In the mountainous region of _Epirus_ were numerous streams flowing through the valleys. Within it was the ancient _Dodona_, the seat of the oracle. _Magnesia_, east of Thessaly, on the coast, comprised within it the two ranges of _Ossa_ and _Pelion_. _Central Greece_ contained eleven states. _Malis_ had on its eastern edge the pass of _Thermopylae_. In _Phocis_, on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus, was _Delphi_. _Boeotia_ was distinguished for the number and size of its cities, the chief of which was _Thebes_. _Attica_ projected from Boeotia to the south-east, its length being seventy miles, and its greatest width thirty miles. Its area was only about seven hundred and twenty square miles. It was thus only a little more than half as large as the State of Rhode Island, which has an area of thirteen hundred and six square miles. Its only important town was _Athens_. Its rivers, the _Ilissus_ and the two _Cephissusses_, were nothing more than torrent courses. In _Southern Greece_ were eleven countries. The territory of _Corinth_ embraced most of the isthmus, and a large tract in Peloponnesus. It had but one considerable city, _Corinth_, which had two ports,--one on the Corinthian Gulf, _Lechoeum_, and the other on the Saronic Gulf, _Cenchreae_. _Arcadia_, the central mountain country, has been called the Switzerland of Peloponnesus. It comprised numerous important towns, as _Mantinea_, _Orchomenus_, and, in later times, _Megalopolis_. In the south-east was _Laconia_, with an area of about nineteen hundred square miles. It consisted mainly of the valley of the _Eurotas_, which lay between the lofty mountain ranges of _Parnon_ and _Taygetus_. "Hollow Lacedaemon" was a phrase descriptive of its situation. _Sparta_, the capital, was on the _Eurotas_, twenty miles from the sea. It had no other important city. _Argolis_, projecting into the sea, eastward of Arcadia, had within it the ancient towns of _Mycenae_ and _Argos_. THE ISLANDS.--It must be remembered that the waters between Europe and Asia were not a separating barrier, but a close bond of connection. There is scarcely a single point "where, in clear weather, a mariner would feel himself left in a solitude between sky and water; the eye reaches from island to island, and easy voyages of a day lead from bay to bay." Greek towns, including very ancient places, were scattered along the western coast of Asia Minor, between the mountains and the shore. The Aegean was studded with Greek islands. These, together with the islands in the Ionian Sea, on the west, formed a part of Greek territory.