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Artemisium is where the sea of Thrace contracts into a narrow
channel, running between the isle of Sciathus and the mainland of
Magnesia. When this narrow strait is passed you come to the line of
coast called Artemisium; which is a portion of Euboea, and contains
a temple of Artemis (Diana). As for the entrance into Greece by
Trachis, it is, at its narrowest point, about fifty feet wide.
This however is not the place where the passage is most contracted;
for it is still narrower a little above and a little below
Thermopylae. At Alpini, which is lower down than that place, it is
only wide enough for a single carriage; and up above, at the river
Phoenix, near the town called Anthela, it is the same. West of
Thermopylae rises a lofty and precipitous hill, impossible to climb,
which runs up into the chain of Oeta; while to the east the road is
shut in by the sea and by marshes. In this place are the warm
springs, which the natives call "The Cauldrons"; and above them
stands an altar sacred to Hercules. A wall had once been carried
across the opening; and in this there had of old times been a gateway.
These works were made by the Phocians, through fear of the
Thessalians, at the time when the latter came from Thesprotia to
establish themselves in the land of Aeolis, which they still occupy.
As the Thessalians strove to reduce Phocis, the Phocians raised the
wall to protect themselves, and likewise turned the hot springs upon
the pass, that so the ground might be broken up by watercourses, using
thus all possible means to hinder the Thessalians from invading their
country. The old wall had been built in very remote times; and the
greater part of it had gone to decay through age. Now however the
Greeks resolved to repair its breaches, and here make their stand
against the barbarian. At this point there is a village very nigh the
road, Alpeni by name, from which the Greeks reckoned on getting corn
for their troops.
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