Every year, thousands of visitors admire its fauna and flora, tour its slopes, and climb its peaks. Organized mountain refuges and various mountaineering and climbing routes are available. The usual starting point for climbing Olympus is the town of Litochoro , on the eastern foothills of the mountain, km 62 mi from Thessaloniki. The shape of Olympus was formed by rain and wind, which produced an isolated tower almost 3, metres 9, ft above the sea, which is only 18 kilometres 11 mi away at Litochoro.
Olympus has many peaks and an almost circular shape. The mountain has a circumference of kilometres 93 mi , an average diameter of 26 kilometres 16 mi , and square kilometres sq mi of area. To the northwest lies the Vlach village of Kokkinoplou.
The Makryrema stream separates Olympus from the massif of Voulgara. The villages Petra, Vrontou and Dion lie to the northwest, while on the eastern side there is the town of Litochoro , where Enipeas bisects the massif of Olympus. On its southeastern side, the Ziliana gorge divides Mount Olympus from Kato Olympos Lower Olympus , while on its southwestern foothills, there are the villages Sykaminea and Karya.
Olympus' dry foothills, known as the Xirokampi, are covered in chaparral and provides habitat for animals such as wild boar. Further east, the plain of Dion is fertile and watered by the streams which originate on Olympus. Mount Olympus is formed of sedimentary rock laid down million years ago in a shallow sea.
Various geological events that followed caused the emergence of the whole region and the sea. Around one million years ago glaciers covered Olympus and created its plateaus and depressions.
With the temperature rise that followed, the ice melted and the streams that were created swept away large quantities of crushed rock in the lowest places, forming the alluvial fans , that spread out all over the region from the foothills of the mountain to the sea.
The Geological Museum of Mount Olympus, located in Leptokarya, provides detailed information about the geological structure of the mountain.
The complicated geological past of the region is obvious from the morphology of Olympus and its National Park. Features include deep gorges and dozens of smooth peaks, many of them in altitude of more than 2, metres 6, ft , including Aghios Antonios 2, metres 9, ft , Kalogeros 2, metres 8, ft , Toumpa 2, metres 9, ft and Profitis Ilias 2, metres 9, ft.
However, it is the central, almost vertical, rocky peaks, that impress the visitor. Over the town of Litochoro, on the horizon, the relief of the mountain displays an apparent V, between two peaks of almost equal height. The left limb is the peak named Mytikas or Pantheon. It is Greece's highest peak. Then, on the right is Stefani or Thronos Dios [Throne of Zeus — 2, metres 9, ft ] , which presents the most impressive and steep peak of Olympus, with its last sharply rising meters presenting the greatest challenge for climbers.
On the east side of the high peaks the steep slopes form zone like parallel folds, the 'Zonaria'. Even narrower and steeper scorings, the 'Loukia', lead to the peak. Olympus has numerous ravines and gullies. Most distinguishable of the ravines are those of Mavrologos-Enipeas 14 km and Mavratzas-Sparmos 13 km near Bara and 'cut' the massif in two oval portions. On the southern foothills the great gorge of Ziliana, 13 km long, consists of a natural limit that separates the mountain from Lower Olympus.
There are also many precipices and a number of caves, even nowadays unexplored. The form and layout of the rocks favor the emergence of numerous springs, mainly lower than 2, m, of small seasonal lakes and streams and of a small river, Enipeas, with its springs in the site Prionia and its estuary in the Aegean Sea.
In Homeric Greek Odyssey 6. Homer Iliad 5. Mt Olympus was historically also known as Mount Belus , after Iliad 1. In Ancient Greek religion and mythology , "Olympus" was the name of the home of the Twelve Olympian gods of the ancient Greek world.
This was conceived of as a lofty mountaintop, and in all regions settled by Greek tribes, the highest local elevation tended to be so named; among the numerous peaks called Olumpos in antiquity are mountains in Mysia, Laconia, Lycia, Cyprus, Attica, Euboea, Ionia and Lesbos , and others.
Thessalian Olympus is the highest peak in any territory with Greek settlement and came to be seen as the "Pan-Hellenic" representative of the mythological seat of the gods, by at least the 5th century BC, as Herodotus 1.
In Pieria, at Olympus's northern foot, the mythological tradition had placed the nine Muses , patrons of the Fine Arts, daughters of Zeus and the Titanide Mnemosyne. In antiquity, the Olympus massif forms the border between Thessaly and Macedon. The history of the surrounding area is consequently of interest in the context of the Rise of Macedon, the Chremonidean War and the Macedonian Wars during the 4th to 2nd centuries BC.
In the period of the Ottoman Empire the mountain was a hiding place and base of operations for klephts and armatoloi. In Olympus, the second armatoliki was founded, led by Kara Michalis in The action of the klephts in Olympus led the Turks to visit their outrage on the klephts' ally-village of Milia in the late 17th century , which they destroyed.
In that period Livadi in Olympus became the seat of the armatoliki of Olympus and Western Macedonia, with their first renowned commander Panos Zidros. In the 18th century the Turks had to replace the armatoloi who very often joined the klephts with Moslem Albanian armatoloi who ravaged the countryside of Macedonia. However, Olympus' armatoloi, even after their capitulation to Ali Pasha , never ceased fighting on land and at sea.
Among them who were active there and in nearby regions were Nikotsaras, Giorgakis Olympios and the legendary family of Lazaioi. In the early 20th century, even for some time after the liberation from the Ottoman Empire , robbers were active in the region — the best known of them the notorious Giagoulas, while during the German invasion in the Greek army fought significant battles along with units of New Zealanders and Australians.
Register Don't have an account? Mount Olympus. Edit source History Talk 0. Cancel Save. Fan Feed 1 Kraken 2 Perseus 3 Io. Universal Conquest Wiki. In the Greco-Roman tradition, natural elements were seen as ancestors of the more personified gods and goddesses. In addition to awe of mountains—a combination of reverence and a little fear—people also saw manifestations of the divine in caves, the headwaters of major rivers, and hot springs.
Sacred groves were common during Greek and Roman times, and travelers would make offerings at these spots along their journey. Many such spots existed in the foothills and lower level of Mount Olympus. The highest sacrificial place was the peak of Profitis Ilias, at an elevation of 9, feet.
Hermits and monks resided for longer periods of time in caves and forests located throughout the lower elevations of the mountain. Mountains have been central to Greek society since Neolithic times.
Dozens of villages arose in the foothills of Mount Olympus during the Iron Age approximately the 12th century to the eighth century B. The isolation of mountain villages has helped to preserve language and folklore over centuries of political changes. One of the most notable is Dion, on the northern side. From the fifth to the second century B. Known as Olympia of Zeus, the nine days honored each of his nine daughters, the Muses, with theatrical performances and athletic competitions.
Alexander the Great, from Macedonia—the modern political region that includes Mount Olympus on its southern border—is said to have gone to Dion to make sacrifices to Zeus before he set out on his campaign to expand the Macedonian empire.
With the coming of Christianity, many of the older religious and cultural practices associated with Mount Olympus were hidden or incorporated into the new religion.
However, the lower levels of the mountain were still used for spiritual contemplation. In the 11th century, St. Dionysius of Halicarnassus built a shrine on one of the lower peaks, Hagios Ilias.
As in many European places, local culture still carries traces of the pagan sacred landscape, even though in the case of Mount Olympus, recreational appreciation has largely replaced spiritual veneration. While its significance has altered, Mount Olympus has remained an important geographical location and symbol to Greeks. Waves of invaders during the Roman and Byzantine periods passed by it, but with all the political changes that surrounded it, the mountain itself remained relatively untouched.
Its rugged terrain provided safe harbor for village residents, renegade soldiers, and criminals alike. Many people left their remote villages for coastal cities, a migration that included the villages around Mount Olympus.
Such migration was encouraged by the growing economies in major cities and by overcultivation of mountainous areas, which led to soil erosion and deforestation. As the permanent settlements around Mount Olympus emptied out, the mountain became more of a destination for adventure tourists. Since then, the mountain has become a common one- or two-day hike for young travelers.
Most hikers begin their climb in the town of Litochoro on the eastern side of the mountain in the region of Macedonia, a destination along the trans-Europe E4 hiking trail. The other major human activity around Mount Olympus is archaeology; Dion and other ancient villages have been extensively excavated since the s. One spectacular find was an ancient cemetery discovered in at the base of Mount Olympus, 2.
Dion and other excavated villages have also given much information about urban planning, fortifications and temples from the classical Greek through the early Christian period. There are important Byzantine churches and monasteries as well as pagan sacred sites. However, the mountain itself has been untouched by professional archaeologists.
Climbers regularly report seeing traces of temples and altars, ceramic plates, and coins at lower levels.
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