PHYSICAL ACCOUNT

The geographical area covered by this chapter extends from the Vale of Tempe in the north to the Megarid in the south; it also extends westwards across mainland Greece to the Gulf of Actium and the mouth of the river Achelous, but this westward extension will prove to show a distinct pattern of development, and some of the generalizations which follow are intended to apply largely or entirely to the main eastern zone, comprising Attica, the Megarid, Boeotia, Phocis, Locris, Doris, Malis and Thessaly.

Even this zone, however, is far from being a unity in its geology or climate; nor are its internal communications any easier than is generally the case in Greece. In its basic structure, it consists of a series of mountainous outcrops, mainly of limestone but in the easternmost sector, close to the Aegean coast, also of the more ancient crystalline rocks. Interspersed with the mountain masses are the beds of tertiary sands, clays and conglomerates which provide an undulating, upland terrain. Finally, there are the alluvial plains of more recent formation. The incidence of these last increases as one moves northwards. In Attica and the Megarid, they form a small, almost negligible portion of the landscape; but then one passes over into Boeotia and encounters, successively, the valleys of the Asopus and the Cephissus. The latter empties not into the sea but into the landlocked basin of Lake Copais; when drained, as it had been in the Late Bronze Age, this yields an even more extensive area of fertile alluvial land.