Mount Olympus

Mountain or sky? What the poets actually say

Homer's Olympus moves between a physical peak and the sky itself. In the Iliad the mountain is "many-ridged" and "snowy." Zeus sits apart from the other gods on its highest summit, and Thetis has to climb it at dawn to grasp his knees and plead for Achilles. In the Odyssey, though, Olympus is described as the gods' unshaken seat, never shaken by winds, wet by rain or touched by snow, with cloudless brightness all around. That reads more like a heavenly realm than a Thessalian mountain. Later poets drifted further toward the second picture, so that "Olympus" often means simply the heavens.

The details Homer gives are specific. The gates of heaven are banks of cloud kept by the Horai, the Seasons, who open and close them for the gods' chariots. Hephaestus built a house for each god with his own hands. He also made self-moving golden tripods on wheels that roll in and out of the divine assembly, and golden maidservants who can think and speak to help him walk. At the end of Iliad 1 he limps around the hall pouring nectar, and the gods break into "unquenchable laughter." Hebe is the usual cupbearer in Homer. Zeus later carries off Ganymede to fill the same role.

Olympus in the wars of the gods

Olympus was the Olympians' base in the war against the older gods. In Hesiod's Theogony the Titans fight from Mount Othrys to the south, across the Thessalian plain, and the children of Cronus fight from Olympus. For ten years neither side could win, until Zeus freed the Hundred-Handers. That is why the gods are called "Olympian": the name comes from where they lived, not from any family line. Zeus also called the gods to Olympus before the war and promised to keep the privileges of any Titan who sided with him. The river Styx came first with her children, which is how she won her oath-sanctity. See the Titanomachy for the full war.

The famous mountain-stacking story belongs to the giant twins Otus and Ephialtes. In Homer's version they planned to pile Ossa on Olympus and Pelion on Ossa so they could climb into heaven, and Apollo killed them before they grew to full strength. Later Roman poets usually reverse the order or move the episode into the Gigantomachy. Homer also gives a lesser-known threat to Olympus from within. Hera, Poseidon and Athena once plotted to bind Zeus. Thetis brought the hundred-handed Briareus up to sit beside him, and the conspirators backed down.

Who actually lived there

The "Twelve Olympians" were not a fixed list in antiquity. Different cities and monuments chose different twelve, and Hestia, Dionysus, Heracles and others are included or left out depending on the source. The popular story that Hestia gave up her throne to make room for Dionysus does not come from any ancient author. It appears in Robert Graves's The Greek Myths (1955). Hades was never an Olympian resident: Homer has Poseidon say the three brothers shared out sky, sea and underworld, while earth and Olympus remained common to all. The Muses are closely tied to the mountain too. Hesiod says they were born in Pieria, on Olympus's northern slopes, and calls them "Olympian."

The real mountain and its sanctuaries

The massif rises from the Aegean coast between Thessaly and Macedonia. Its highest summit, Mytikas, is about 2,918 metres. Mytikas was first reached on 2 August 1913 by the Swiss climbers Frédéric Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy with the local guide Christos Kakalos. Climbers usually start from the town of Litochoro. Greek archaeologists have excavated a Hellenistic and Roman-era sanctuary of Zeus on the neighbouring peak of Agios Antonios, finding coins, lamps and dedications left by worshippers who made the climb. Plutarch preserves an inscription by a man named Xenagoras who measured the mountain's height in antiquity.

The main cult centre lay at the foot of the mountain, at Dion, the sacred city of the Macedonians. King Archelaus held a festival there to Olympian Zeus and the Muses, and Alexander the Great sacrificed at Dion before setting out for Asia. Excavations there have uncovered sanctuaries of Zeus Olympios, Demeter and Isis. Much the same can be said of other "Olympus" mountains. The name was used for many peaks in the Greek world, including Mysian Olympus (Uludağ) in Turkey and the Olympus range on Cyprus, and ancient readers did not always agree which one the poets meant.

Ancient sources

• Homer, Odyssey 6.41–47 — Olympus as the gods' eternal seat, untouched by wind, rain or snow.
• Homer, Iliad 5.749–752 and 18.369–379 — the cloud-gates kept by the Horai, and Hephaestus's bronze house and self-moving tripods.
• Homer, Iliad 1.396–406 and 15.187–193 — the plot to bind Zeus foiled by Briareus, and Poseidon on the threefold division of the world with Olympus held in common.
• Hesiod, Theogony 617–735 — the Titanomachy fought between Olympus and Othrys.
• Homer, Odyssey 11.305–320 — Otus and Ephialtes plan to pile Ossa on Olympus and Pelion on Ossa.
• Plutarch, Life of Aemilius Paullus 15 — records Xenagoras's measurement of the mountain's height, in the context of the Roman campaign of 168 BC.

Frequently asked questions

Is Mount Olympus a real place?

Yes. It is Greece's highest mountain, on the border of Thessaly and Macedonia, and has been a national park since 1938. In the poets, however, "Olympus" often stands for the sky in general.

Can you climb Mount Olympus?

Yes. Most hikers go up from Litochoro via Prionia and the mountain refuges over two days. The final scramble to Mytikas is exposed and is usually tackled with a helmet and some rock-climbing experience.

Did Hades live on Mount Olympus?

No. Hades ruled the underworld and is usually not counted among the Olympians who lived on the mountain.

Why are the gods called Olympians?

Because Olympus was where Zeus and his siblings based themselves in the war against the Titans, who fought from Mount Othrys.