DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0350
322 THE ISLES AND SHRINES OF GREECE
gathered above as if enshrouding the aerial palace
of Zeus. Soon they floated off and left the upper
air clear and the peaks brilliant, recalling the beau-
tiful passage in the Odyssey, " So saying, gray-eyed
Athene passed away to Olympus, where they say the
seat of the gods stands fast forever. Not by winds
is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor does the
snow come near, but cloudless upper air is spread
about it, and a bright radiance floats over it."
There would have been a decided change in the
scenery if those lively and precocious youngsters
Otus and Ephialtes had had their way in piling Ossa
on Olympus and Pelion on Ossa as stepping-stones
to higher things. They would have done it, says
Homer, with great confidence, if they had grown
up; for they were only fifty-four feet high, and the
down had just begun to grow on their cheeks when
they were nipped in the bud, and went to long but
untimely graves.
We reached the little khan of Baba at five o'clock,
and after arranging for supper and lodging, had time
to take a walk through the Vale of Tempe before
sunset. This famous vale is, as its name signifies,
a " cut" or pass in the mountains. The cliffs which
form it belong on one side to the chain of Ossa and
on the other side to that of Olympus. The vale is
four and a half miles long. The cliffs rise with
noble grandeur, and through the gorge the Peneius
flows to the sea. Its banks are well wooded with
the plane, elm, oak, willow, and wild fig. Some of
the plane-trees are of great size. Especially impres-
sive was a pair of twin trunks rising from a gigantic
base. The rocks on each side were covered with
gathered above as if enshrouding the aerial palace
of Zeus. Soon they floated off and left the upper
air clear and the peaks brilliant, recalling the beau-
tiful passage in the Odyssey, " So saying, gray-eyed
Athene passed away to Olympus, where they say the
seat of the gods stands fast forever. Not by winds
is it shaken, nor ever wet with rain, nor does the
snow come near, but cloudless upper air is spread
about it, and a bright radiance floats over it."
There would have been a decided change in the
scenery if those lively and precocious youngsters
Otus and Ephialtes had had their way in piling Ossa
on Olympus and Pelion on Ossa as stepping-stones
to higher things. They would have done it, says
Homer, with great confidence, if they had grown
up; for they were only fifty-four feet high, and the
down had just begun to grow on their cheeks when
they were nipped in the bud, and went to long but
untimely graves.
We reached the little khan of Baba at five o'clock,
and after arranging for supper and lodging, had time
to take a walk through the Vale of Tempe before
sunset. This famous vale is, as its name signifies,
a " cut" or pass in the mountains. The cliffs which
form it belong on one side to the chain of Ossa and
on the other side to that of Olympus. The vale is
four and a half miles long. The cliffs rise with
noble grandeur, and through the gorge the Peneius
flows to the sea. Its banks are well wooded with
the plane, elm, oak, willow, and wild fig. Some of
the plane-trees are of great size. Especially impres-
sive was a pair of twin trunks rising from a gigantic
base. The rocks on each side were covered with