330 



THE PLAIN OF MARATHON. 



which enclose it at either extremity ; though to the south west, the 

 mountains, which are a branch of Pentelicus, and are higher than in 

 any other part, have a more gradual slope towards the sea, and are 

 covered with low pine-trees and brush-wood. About the centre of 

 the bay a small stream, which flows from the upper part of the 

 valley of Marathon, discharges itself into the sea by three shallow 

 channels. A narrow rocky point, projecting from the shore, forms 

 the north east part of the bay, close to which is a salt stream 

 connected with a shallow lake, and a great extent of marsh land. 

 About one mile and a half south of the river of Marathon is another 

 inconsiderable rivulet of fresh water, flowing also from a marsh by 

 no means so extensive as the other. From the north east point of 

 the bay, on a low narrow sandy ridge extends a wood of the Pinus 

 Pinea for a space of two miles along the shore ; in the rear of this, 

 the plain is a continued marsh, reaching as far as the modern village 

 Souli ; probably the ancient Tricorythus, which formed with CEnoe, 

 Probalinthus, and Marathon, the Tetrapolis of Attica.* 



The other part of the plain, except the small marsh to the south- 

 ward, consists of uninclosed and level corn land, with a few olive 

 and wild pear-trees. The village, called Marathona, which is situated 

 in a narrow valley of nearly uniform breadth opening into the plain, 

 is rather more than three miles from the sea. This valley is in 

 general three quarters of a mile in breadth, and is bounded on either 

 side by difficult heights ; on the south side it is separated from 

 another small valley, which however is itself enclosed with rocky 

 eminences ; and appears as a bay connected with the plain ; while 

 the valley of Marathon may be compared to a creek or inlet into the 

 interior. At the foot of the mountain, on the south side of the 

 plain, is a small hamlet called Vrana, supposed by some to be on the 



* Another town named CEnoe was near Eleuthcrae; see Harpocrat. and Wesseling in 

 D. Sic. torn. i. 305. Colonel Leake mentions the vestiges which mark the site of an 

 ancient Demos in the valley above the village of Marathona. They are called Ninoe. — 

 Researches, p. 420. 



