The
Vale of Tempe is a gorge in the
Tempi municipality of northern
Thessaly,
Greece, located between
Olympus to the north and
Ossa to the south. The valley is 10 kilometres long and as narrow as 25 metres in places, with cliffs nearly 500 metres high, and through it flows the
Pineios River on its way to the
Aegean Sea. In ancient times, it was celebrated by Greek poets as a favorite haunt of
Apollo and the
Muses. On the right bank of the Pineios sat a temple to Apollo, near which the laurels used to crown the victorious in the
Pythian Games were gathered.