These were Xerxes' actions in +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly and +Achaea [21.75,38.25] (department), Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Achaea. From here he came into Malis along a gulf of the sea, in which the tide ebbs and flows daily.Tidal movement is rare in the Mediterranean Sea [30,31.5] (sea)Mediterranean. But there is a strong ebb and flood in the Euripus, which is not far from the Malian gulf. There is low-lying ground about this gulf, sometimes wide and sometimes very narrow, and around it stand high and inaccessible mountains which enclose the whole of Malis and are called the Rocks of +Trachis [22.55,38.8] (Perseus) Trachis.

Now the first town by the gulf on the way from +Achaea [21.75,38.25] (department), Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Achaea is Anticyra, near to which the river Spercheus flows from the country of the Enieni and issues into the sea. About twenty furlongs from that river is another named Dyras, which is said to have risen from the ground to aid Heracles against the fire that consumed him and twenty furlongs again from that there is another river called the Black river.