Грекиядағы Темпе шатқалы

Gorge in northern Thessaly, Greece

The Vale of Tempe ('/t//ɛ//m//p//i/; Κοιλάδα των Τεμπών; Τέμπεα, Τέμπη) is a gorge in the Tempi municipality of northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south, and between the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia. The gorge was known to the Byzantines as Λυκόστομο (Wolf's Throat) and was called simply Boğaz (Gorge) by the Turks. In the Greek municipality of Tempi, the valley is ten kilometers long and as narrow as 25 metres in places, with cliffs nearly 500 metres high. Through it flows the Pineios River on its way to the Aegean Sea. Historically the gorge has provided a strategic route through the mountains and its impressive rugged beauty has been poetically renowned.

In legend, the Vale of Tempe was cut through the rocks by the trident of Poseidon. Two places of pilgrimage developed later in the area. At the southern entrance of the valley lie the remains of the Ottoman era Hasan Baba Tekke, a 14 15th century mosque built about the tomb of a dervish saint. Traditionally it was visited particularly by women who wanted to conceive and children that could not walk. Within the gorge itself is the ancient cave shrine and holy spring of the Christian saint, Aghia Paraskevi, protector of the eyes and of gypsies. It is approached by a narrow footbridge over the river and sheltered by a chapel built about 1910. The Tempe Pass is a strategic point in Greece since it is the main route from Larissa through the mountains to the coast. Though it can be bypassed via the Sarantoporo Pass, the alternative route takes longer. Because of this, it has been the scene of numerous battles throughout history. In 480 BC, 10,000 Athenians and Spartans gathered at Tempe to stop Xerxes's invasion. However, once there, they were warned by Alexander I of Macedon that the vale could be bypassed and that the army of Xerxes was overwhelmingly large; accordingly, the Greeks retreated. During the Third Macedonian War in 169 BC, the Romans broke through Perseus of Macedon's defences here and later defeated him in the Battle of Pydna. During the revolution of Andriskos in 148 BC the valley was the site of another conflict. Then, following some centuries of Roman peace, the pass was penetrated again during the first Gothic War (376–382) when, in the words of the poet Claudian, "Thessaly grieved because the Vale of Tempe was no help, while the Goths laughed at Mount Oeta's conquered crags". Other battles were fought there too during Byzantine and Ottoman times.

Until recently the road through the gorge followed the track of the ancient military road made by the Romans, running along the right bank of the river. By the time of the Battle of Tempe Gorge in 1941, it had hardly improved and later, as the Greek National Road 1, had still the reputation of being narrow and dangerous, with one particular accident causing the deaths of 21 schoolchildren in April 2003. Only with the opening of the A1 motorway and its bypassing tunnels in 2017 was there a change for the better. Also running through the gorge is the Athens–Thessaloniki mainline. Originally built as single tracked in the 1910s, it was closed on 27 November 2003 and the following day trains were routed through the new double tracked line, featuring two long tunnels that allow speeds of up to 160 km/h. Nevertheless, it was the scene of what was reported as Greece's deadliest rail disaster on 28 February 2023.