Thessaly

thes'a-li, in ancient history, a region lying between northern Greece and Macedonia. It is surrounded by mountains. It consists practically of a single river basin about sixty miles in diameter which discharges its waters through the famous Vale of Tempe between Mounts Olympus and Ossa into the Aegean Sea. The land was fertile and, for Greece, comparatively level. The inhabitants were of mixed Greek and Macedonian descent. They were famous for a race of horses. They furnished Greeks, Macedonians, and Persians with contingents of cavalry. Thessaly lay in the route of Xerxes' invading army. The final engagement between the troops of Pompey and Julius Caesar was fought out on the plain of Pharsalia, August 9, 48 B. C. The district was held long by the Turks. It is now a part of the modern kingdom of Greece. See Macedonia