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στεινοτέρη. In two places Thermopylae is ἁμαξιτὸς μούνη (176. 2). The average breadth of Tempe between Mount Ossa and the Peneius is about 150 feet, but in many places the river leaves so little room that the modern road has been cut through the rocky slopes of Mount Ossa. The way must have been very rough though not impassable in 480 B. C. Herodotus clearly means to insist on three points of advantage at Thermopylae: (1) there was only one pass (cf. 173. 4), and that was both (2) narrower than Tempe, and (3) nearer home.

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