Natural convection in a stratified fluid enclosed within an annulus formed by confocal elliptical cylinders is examined analytically. The flow modeled is two-dimensional, laminar, incompressible, and steady state. Except for the Boussinesq approximations for density, fluid properties are constant. Stratification is modeled by assigning a variable temperature profile to the outer cylinder. The inner cylinder is isothermal. Either thermally stable or thermally unstable stratification is modeled by assigning either positive or negative values of the steepness parameter S. The effects of the varying RaLand e, the eccentricity of the inner cylinder, are also examined. The results are presented in terms of fluid flow patterns, isotherms, and graphs of shear stress and local Nusselt numbers on the plate's surface for various values of the angle of orientation, α,