'The Vale of Tempe', 1890. Vale of Tempe in Thessaly, Greece, celebrated by Greek poets as a place of Apollo and the Muses and the scene of numerous battles throughout history. In 480 BC, 10,000 Greeks retreated on hearing the army of Xerxes was overwhelmingly large. From "Cassell's Illustrated Universal History, Vol. I - Early and Greek History", by Edmund Ollier. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris and Melbourne, 1890]