OETA (Strabo, Ptolemy), a mountain of Thessaly, extending from Thermopylæ westward to the Sinus Ambracius, and in some measure cutting at right angles the mountainous country stretching out between Parnassus to the south, and Pindus to the north. At Thermopylæ it is very rough and high, rising and ending in sharp and steep rocks, affording a narrow passage between it and the sea from Thessaly to Locris, (Strabo): with two paths over it; the one above Trachis, very steep and high; the other through the country of the Ænians, much easier and readier for travellers; by this it was that Leonidas was attacked in rear by the Persians, (Pausanias). Here Hercules laid himself on the funeral pile, (Silius Italicus, Ovid); the spot thence called Pyra, (Livy): who says, that the extreme mountains to the east are called Octa; and hence the poets allege, that day, night, sun, and stars, arose from Octa, (Seneca, Statius, Silius Italicus, Catullus, Virgil's Culex.) Circumstances which shew the height of this mountain.