English miles, and its greatest breadth only 180. Its surface is
considerably less than that of Portugal. This small area was
divided among a number of independent states, many of them
containing a territory of only a few square miles, and none of
them larger than an English county. But the heroism and genius
of the Greeks have given an interest to the insignificant spot of
earth bearing their name, which the vastest empires have never
equalled.

The name of Greece was not used by the inhabitants of the
country. They called their land HELLAS, and themselves HELLENES.
At first the word HELLAS signified only a small district in
Thessaly, from which the Hellenes gradually spread over the whole
country. The names of GREECE and GREEKS come to us from the
Romans, who gave the name of GRAECIA to the country and of GRAECI
to the inhabitants.

The two northerly provinces of Greece are THESSALY and EPIRUS,
separated from each other by Mount Pindus. Thessaly is a fertile
plain enclosed by lofty mountains, and drained by the river
Peneus, which finds its way into the sea through the celebrated
Vale of Tempe. Epirus is covered by rugged ranges of mountains
running from north to south, through which the Achelous the
largest river of Greece, flows towards the Corinthian gulf.

In entering central Greece from Thessaly the road runs along the
coast through the narrow pass of Thermopylae, between the sea and
a lofty range of mountains. The district along the coast was
inhabited by the EASTERN LOCRIANS, while to their west were DORIS
and PHOCIS, the greater part of the latter being occupied by