Where is Olympus, actually? This question brings me to a second well-known fact, which also concerns Mount Olympus. The fact is, this mountain is located in the modern state of Greece, in a region that is known today as Macedonia. On a clear day, if you look across the Thermaic Gulf from the Macedonian city of Thessaloniki as your point of outlook, you can actually see Mount Olympus looming from afar over the western horizon.
Likewise earlier, in the middle of the second century BCE, the location of Olympus was understood to be Macedonia, as we see from the testimony of Aristarchus of Samothrace as reported for example in the scholia for Iliad 8.
The topic of Aristarchus brings me to a third fact that is relevant to my overall question about Olympus, and this fact has to do with Aristarchus himself. For him, Mount Olympus in Macedonia was not only the abode of the Olympian gods: as it has been clearly shown by Francesca Schironi — , Aristarchus was convinced that his poet Homer thought of Olympus exclusively as the only possible abode of these gods. As Schironi has also shown again, — , Aristarchus has in this case stretched too far the textual evidence of Homeric poetry, since we can find occasional passages in both the Iliad and the Odyssey where the abode of the Olympian gods is pictured as the sky, not as a mountain.
But the fact remains that Aristarchus did indeed think that such a picturing is post-Homeric. And that fact, which has been the third of relevant facts I have dealt with so far, can now be linked with a fourth fact that I will now introduce here. The fact is, a formulaic analysis of all existing references to the abode of the gods in the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey shows that the picturing of this abode as a mountain is relatively older than the picturing of a heavenly home that hovers on high in the pure sky above Sale So, even if Aristarchus had overextended his interpretation by arguing that the sky as a divine abode is a post-Homeric construct, he was at least partly correct in preferring the mountain over the sky as the older way of visualizing poetically the place where gods live.
All this is not to say that Zeus, as the primary divine resident of Mount Olympus, was not a sky god. He was always a sky god, but his celestial essence was linked more with physical picturings of high points that reach up from earth to sky and less with abstract picturings of the highest imaginable point in the sky. And here we have the fifth of the relevant facts that I have collected so far concerning Mount Olympus. The fact is, Zeus is a sky god precisely by way of his connectivity with a mountain named Olympus.
I have already pointed out this fact in a separate study centering on the physicality of Zeus as a sky god Nagy In this Homeric example, the routing of the enemy in battle is being compared to a violent rainstorm sent by Zeus from his abode high above on Mount Olympus Iliad In the light of such specific mental associations of Mount Olympus with Zeus in his generic role as a sky god, our thinking may now be in danger of getting clouded over—as we go on to consider a troubling new question.
What happens every time it rains? When rain happens anywhere in our world, surely we do not expect Zeus himself, as a single sky god, to generate that rain from his abode on high on Mount Olympus, which in our minds has been firmly anchored in a region known as Macedonia.
The question can be clarified, however, by way of considering at this point yet another relevant fact that I have collected—the sixth one. And this sixth fact is not nearly as well-known as the previous five facts we have already considered.
Here it is. The fact is, the very idea of Mount Olympus had taken shape in a different kind of world—a world sometimes described by archaeologists today as the Mycenaean Empire—and the political macrocosm of such a world consisted of a far-reaching network of kingdoms, each one of which could potentially have a Mount Olympus of its very own. What I have just described here as a sixth relevant fact—that there were many mountains named Olympus in the world of the Mycenaean Empire—can be found in a book by Martin P.
Here I will add a seventh relevant fact, which is directly connected to the sixth. The fact is, for each different kingdom that had its own version of Olympus in the far-reaching world of the Mycenaean Empire, there would be a matching kingdom of divinities presiding over such a mountain. The proof is amply documented by Martin Nilsson in Chapter 4 of his book and effectively backed up by Emily Vermeule in her introduction xiii.
This use is in line with the emphasis placed by Nilsson on the nature of the Mycenaean Empire as a loose confederation of kingdoms that was dominated though not fully controlled by one supreme kingdom, at Mycenae.
And I would emphasize that such modeling can be viewed as a two-way street, since the kingship of Zeus at Mount Olympus can be seen, in terms of Homeric mythmaking, as an ideological model for the kingship of Agamemnon at Mycenae. Given that the Mycenaean Empire consisted of many kingdoms, it follows that each one of these kingdoms could have its own local version of Mount Olympus, dominated by a local version of Zeus the sky god.
The city of Pisa, once the capital of a state called Pisatis, was situated between two mountains called Olympus and Ossa Strabo 8. In the Greek-speaking world extending into the present, there are mountains called Olympus to be found on the islands of Euboea and Skyros, also on the Attic mainland, near Laurion. This Olympus happens to be my personal favorite, and I have visited it two times already in my lifetime, thanks to the encouragement of my friend and colleague Nikolaos Panou, who is helping me investigate further the antiquity of the name that attaches to this mountain most relevant is the analysis of Matzouranis On the basis of the investigation so far, it appears that the name of this mountain in Lesvos goes as far back as the second millennium BCE—so, it would date back to the Mycenaean era.
Such a mentality is still preserved today, though of course without any direct links to Zeus, in the island of Aegina. The rain made by Zeus can be good also in a less personalized and more naturalistic way, since the rain that Zeus makes will sustain the livelihood of mortals by giving them water, as we see in the case of a localized myth about Zeus as worshipped in the Greek island-state of Aegina.
According to Aeginetan mythology, there was once a massive drought that brought to a stop all plantlife in the known Greek-speaking world.
Relief from the drought was made possible by the hero Aiakos, native son of the island of Aegina. Pegasus though did end up in the stables of Mount Olympus. Zeus would also exile gods from Mount Olympus for a period of time if they angered him, a fate which befell both Poseidon and Apollo. Today Mount Olympus exists as a physical place, and is a popular tourist destination within Greece.
Situated only 80km from Thessalonica, the area around Mount Olympus abounds with hotels and guest houses. Mount Olympus is well known for its range of flora and fauna, and also its spectacular views, when on a clear day the Aegean can be clearly seen. Clear days though are a relative rarity, as the local microclimate sees the highest peaks of Mount Olympus shrouded in mist and clouds. It was this microclimate that helped to add a sense of mysticism to the mountain in antiquity.
Mount Olympus and Olympia are often confused, but whilst Mount Olympus is found in eastern Greece, Olympia is hundreds of miles away on the Peloponnesus peninsula. Olympia was the home of the ancient Olympic Games, games that were competed for over years. Olympia was also home to a gigantic statue of Zeus, a statue which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Great article! I love mythology but I know more about the Norse pantheon than the Greek, so I enjoy learning more about it. Upvoted and gave it a share with my followers here on Hubpages Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science.
Medical Science. Writing Tutorials. Performing Arts. Visual Arts. Student Life. Vocational Training. Standardized Tests. If you are an experienced mountaineer, hiking to the summits of Mount Olympus is not difficult, but many visitors come a cropper by underestimating the challenges and trying to hike the mountain unprepared and without a map.
There are mountain rescues and fatalities on the mountain almost every year. There are several easy walks to the trailheads and into some of the more scenic gorges.
You can also drive part way up, to the National Park parking areas at the head of several trails. A full trek on to the Mount Olympus massif takes two to three days and involves staying overnight in one of the trail refuges as well as stamina, good balance and a head for heights.
Their website is in Greek, unfortunately, but their office is below the main parking lot in the village and they distribute maps and leaflets with information about Mt Olympus trails and treks. An easier way for those inexperienced in mountaineering to tackle Mount Olympus, is to go with or at least consult a guide. Olympus Paths , based in the nearby town of Pieria offer a variety of guided treks for individuals and groups of different abilities, including family groups.
They also offer information on appropriate preparation, equipment and clothing. Litochoro is the most convenient place to stay and is well organized for hikers, trekkers and climbers. The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels lists a variety of hotels there and in nearby towns. As with a lot of Greek websites, it takes a bit of fiddling about to get information in English.
When you arrive at the English language site, forget about using the search box. Instead, click directly on the interactive map and then enlarge it. As the map grows in size, hotel symbols appear near Litochoros as well as the seaside resorts of Neoi Poroi and Leptokaria. Clicking on those produces hotel websites. If you prefer to camp in the National Park, Camping Hellas has a site near the base of the mountain. Wild camping is illegal in Greece and, though it is sometimes tolerated in certain areas, it is not allowed in the National Park or on the high mountains.
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