Olympus

Olympus, Gr. Ólimbos, mountain range, c.25 mi (40 km) long, N Greece, on the border of Thessaly and Macedonia, near the Aegean coast. It rises to c.9,570 ft (2,920 m) at Mt. Olympus, the highest point in Greece. The peak was first ascended in 1913. In Greek mythology the summit, shut from the sight of men on earth by clouds, was the home of the Olympian gods. Later the name Olympus was given to the remote heavenly palace of the gods.

Olympus, Mount: see Cyprus; Olympic Mts.; Olympus.

Mountain peak, northeastern Greece. At 9,570 ft (2,917 m), it is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus range, lying on the border between Macedonia and Thessaly, near the Gulf of Salonika. The summit is snowcapped and often has cloud cover. In ancient Greece, it was regarded as the abode of the gods and the site of the throne of Zeus.

Learn more about Olympus, Mount with a free trial on Britannica.com.

A total of nineteen mountains were referred to as Olympus (or in its common variation, Olympos) in antiquity . Some of these mountains are:

Mountains

See List of peaks named OlympusGreece

• Mount Olympus in Pieria, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology;Turkey
• Mysian Olympus (present-day Uludağ), in northwest Turkey;
• Paphlagonian Olympus (present-day Mount Arıt near Bartın);
• The present-day Mount Nif in Aegean Turkey, near İzmir's depending district of Kemalpaşa, a town which carried the same name as the mountain previously (Nif),
• The valley of Olympos in ancient Lycia on the southern coast of Turkey, 90 km southwest of Antalya, near the town of Kemer;Cyprus
• Mount Olympus (Cyprus), the highest point (1952 m) on the island of Cyprus;

Mountains which have been named Olympus in more recent times are;United States

• Mount Olympus (Washington), on the Olympic Peninsula
• Mount Olympus (Utah), on the Wasatch FrontMars
• Olympus Mons, the tallest known volcano and mountain in our solar system

Persons

• Olympus (musician), two semi-mythical musicians from the time of ancient Greece

Communities

Greece

• Olympos, Karpathos, a town on the Greek island of Karpathos
• Olympos, Larissa, a municipality in the Larissa PrefectureUnited States
• Mount Olympus, Los Angeles, California, a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills
• Mount Olympus, San Francisco, California, in the neighborhood of Parnassus/Ashbury Heights
• Mount Olympus, Indiana, an unincorporated place
• Mount Olympus, Utah, a census-designated place

Business

• Olympus Corporation, a Japanese optics and imaging company
• Rolls-Royce Olympus, a jet engine and marine turbine
• Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
• Olympus (phpBB), a codename for the third version of phpBB
• Mount Olympus Water Bottle Company

Entertainment

• Olympos (novel), a science fiction novel by American author Dan Simmons
• Olympus Rally, a motorsport event in the Washington State, USA
• The Battle of Olympus, a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System
• Olympus (Marvel Comics), a fictional location in Marvel Comics

Other

• Olympus High School, a high-school in Utah, USA.

References