herodotus

esides this to the Thessalian land by upper Macedonia through thePerraibians and by the city of Gonnos, the way by which the army ofXerxes did in fact make its entrance. So the Hellenes went down totheir ships again and made their way back to the Isthmus.174. Such was the expedition to Thessaly, which took place when theking was about to cross over from Asia to Europe and was already atAbydos. So the Thessalians, being stripped of allies, upon this tookthe side of the Medes with a good will and no longer half-heartedly,so that in the course of events they proved very serviceable to theking.175. When the Hellenes had returned to the Isthmus, they deliberated,having regard to that which had been said by Alexander, where and inwhat regions they should set the war on foot: and the opinion whichprevailed was to guard the pass at Thermopylai; for it was seen to benarrower than that leading into Thessaly, and at the same time it wassingle,[166] and nearer also to their own land; and as for the path bymeans of which were taken those of the Hellenes who were taken by theenemy at Thermopylai, they did not even know of its existence untilthey were informed by the people of Trachis after they had come toThermopylai. This pass then they resolved to guard, and not permit theBarbarian to go by into Hellas; and they resolved that the fleetshould sail to Artemision in the territory of Histiaia: for thesepoints are near to one another, so that each division of their forcescould have information of what was happening to the other. And theplaces are so situated as I shall describe. 176. As to Artemisionfirst, coming out of the Thracian Sea the space is contracted fromgreat width to that narrow channel which lies between the island ofSkiathos and the mainland of Magnesia; and after the strait therefollows at once in Eubœa the sea-beach called Artemision, upon whichthere is a temple of Artemis. Then secondly the passage into Hellas byTrechis is, where it is narrowest, but fifty feet wide: it is not herehowever that the narrowest part of this whole region lies, but infront of Thermopylai and also behind it, consisting of a single wheeltrackonly[167] both by Alpenoi, which lies behind Thermopylai andagain by the river Phoinix near the town of Anthela there is no spacebut a single wheel-track only: and on the West of Thermopylai there isa mountain which is impassable and precipitous, rising up to a greatheight and extending towards the range of Oite, while on the East ofthe road the sea with swampy pools succeeds at once. In this passagethere are hot springs, which the natives of the place call the"Pots,"[168] and an altar of Heracles is set up near them. Moreover awall had once been built at this pass, and in old times there was agate set in it; which wall was built by the Phokians, who were struckwith fear because the Thessalians had come from the land of the