Othrys

Othrys (ἡ Ὄθρυς), a lofty chain of mountains, which shuts in the plain of Thessaly from the south. It branches off from Mount Tymphrestus, a summit in the range of Pindus, and runs nearly due east through Phthiotis to the sea coast, thus separating the waters which flow into the Peneius from those of the Spercheius. (Strab. ix. pp. 432, 433; comp. Hdt. 7.129; Plin. Nat. 4.8. s. 15.) On its northern side, many offshoots extend into the plain of Pharsalus. It is lofty and covered with wood, whence the poets give it the epithet of nivalis (Verg. A. 7.675) and nenierosus (Lucan 6.337). It is now usually called Gura, from a large village of this name upon its sides; but its highest summit, which lies to the east of this village, is named Jeracovouni, and is 5669 feet above the level of the sea. The subsoil of the whole range is a limestone of various and highly-inclined strata occasionally mixed with iron ore, amyanthe and asbestos. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 17, vol. iv. p. 330, seq.; Journal of Geogr. Society, vol. vii. p. 92.)