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Traditionally regarded as the heavenly abode of the Greek gods and the site of the throne of Zeus, Olympus seems to have originally existed as an idealized mountain that only later came to be associated with a specific peak. The early epics, the Illiad and the Odyssey offer small amounts of information regarding the geographic location of the heavenly mountain and there are several peaks in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus that bear the name Olympus. The most favored mythological choice is the tallest mountain range in Greece, the massive Olympus, 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece. The highest peak is Mytikas at 2918 meters (9570 feet). The deities believed to have dwelled upon the mythic mount were Zeus, the king of the gods; Hera, his wife; Poseidon and Hades, his brothers; Demeter and Hestia, his sisters; and his children, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes and Hephaestus. Hades, Poseidon and Zeus had to choose between who inherited Mount Olympus. It was decided thaat Zeus would get Mount Olympus, Poseidon-the waters and Hades-the underworld.. Zeus was the god of mind and the intellect, and a protector of strangers and the sanctity of oaths; Hera was a goddess of fertility and the stages of a woman's life; Apollo represented law and order, and the principles of moderation in moral, social and intellectual matters; Aphrodite was a goddess of love and the overwhelming passions that drove humans to irrational behavior; Hermes was the god of travelers, of sleep and dreams and prophecy; Athena was spiritual wisdom incarnate; Hephaistos was the god of the arts; and Ares represented the dark, bloodthirsty aspect of human nature. These gods and goddesses did not actually live upon Olympus, rather the ancient myth can be understood to be a metaphor for the power of the sacred mountain. With the coming of Christianity the myths and legends of the old Greeks were supressed and forgotten, and the holy mountain was seldom visited. Today, weekend hikers and teenagers on the vagabond trail through Europe dash up and down the peak in a day. It is certainly a beautiful place for such a hasty hike, yet to draw upon the real magic of Olympos one must come as a pilgrim and stay some quiet days in the woods. |
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