Pindus Mountains

Pindus
Pindus in Thessaly
Highest point
Peak	Smolikas
Elevation	8,652 ft (2,637 m)
Coordinates	40°05′20″N 20°55′31″E / 40.08889°N 20.92528°E / 40.08889; 20.92528Coordinates: 40°05′20″N 20°55′31″E / 40.08889°N 20.92528°E / 40.08889; 20.92528
Dimensions
Length	112 mi (180 km) north-south
Width	35 mi (56 km)
Geography
Countries	Greece and Albania
Provinces/Counties	Western Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Central Greece, Korçë County and Gjirokastër County
Geology
Age of rock	Holocene

The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos) (Greek: Πίνδος) mountain range is located in northern Greece and southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 m (Mount Smolikas). Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epirus, the Pindus range is often called the "spine of Greece". The mountain range stretches from near the Greek-Albanian borders in Northern Epirus, entering the Epirus region and Macedonia region in northern Greece down to the north of the Peloponnese. Geologically it constitutes an extension of the Dinaric Alps, which dominate the western region of the Balkan Peninsula. This vast complex of mountains, peaks, plateaus, valleys and gorges traverses the Greek mainland from the Northwest to the Southeast. Its length reaches almost 230 kilometers and its largest width is 70 kilometers.

Historically, the name Pindos refers to the mountainous territory that separates the greater Epirus region from the regions of Macedonia and Thessaly.

P. Sustal says that, according to John Tzetzes (12th century Byzantine writer), the Pindos range was called Metzovon at the time. We cannot be sure how valid this testimony is, but it certainly indicates a popular name given to the mountain range, which is also confirmed by more recent sources.

When Anastasios Gordios () translated (between 1682/83 and 1689) to a more conversational (colloquial) language the initial praise to St. Vissarion, which was drafted in 1552 by Pahomios Rousanos (), he wrote: “A mountain called by the Greeks Pindos is the same mountain which is called Metzovon in Barbarian” and further down the same text he adds “this mountain, Metzovon, separates the Ioannina region from the Thessaloniki region.”

The identification of the name Metsovo with the Pindos mountain range is reproduced in a French encyclopedia of 1756.John Cam Hobhouse also appears to adopt this viewpoint, seeing as in 1825 he mentions in his writings: "…the latter mountains, now known by the name of Metzovo, can be no other than Pindus itself…" while a patriarchal document of 1818 says: “Because the high mountain of Pindos in Epirus, that is commonly called Messovon,…».