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Mount Olympus

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Mount Olympus (Όλυμπος; also transliterated as Ólympos, and on Greek maps, Óros Ólimbos) is the highest mountain in Greece at 2,919 meters high (9,570 feet). Since its base is located at sea level, it is one of the highest mountains in Europe in terms of topographic prominence, the relative altitude from base to top. It is situated at , in mainland Greece. It is located about 100 km away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city.

Mount Olympus is noted for its very rich flora with several endemic species. The highest peak on Mount Olympus is Mitikas at 2,919 meters high (9,570 feet), which in Greek means "nose" (an alternative transliterated spelling of this name is "Mytikas"). Mitikas is the highest peak in Greece, the second highest being Skolio (2912 m). Any climb to Mount Olympus starts from the town of Litochoro, which took the name City of Gods because of its location on the roots of the mountain.

Mount Olympus is a popular mountain name. Apart from the Greek Olympus, there was a mountain of the same name in ancient Phrygia and also currently one in Cyprus, one in Utah, one in Washington, one in San Francisco, CA, one on Mars, and many others.

In Greek mythology

In the Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is the home of the Olympians, the principal gods in the Greek pantheon. The Greeks thought of it as built with crystal mansions wherein the gods, such as Zeus, dwelt. It is also known in Greek mythology that when Gaia gave birth to the Vols they used the mountains in Greece as their thrones.

See also

References

http://gserver.civil.auth.gr/glab/indexen-research.htm#f12

External links



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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 17:18:08 PDT (GMT -0700)
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