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OLYMPUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 98 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLYMPUS , the name of many mountains in See also:

Greece and See also:Asia See also:Minor, and of the fabled See also:home of the gods, and also a See also:city name and a See also:personal name. I. Of the mountains bearing the name the most famous is the lofty See also:ridge on the See also:borders of See also:Thessaly and See also:Macedonia. The See also:river Peneus, which drains Thessaly, finds its way to the See also:sea through the See also:great See also:gorge of See also:Tempe, which is See also:close below the See also:south-eastern end of Olympus and separates it from See also:Mount See also:Ossa. The highest See also:peak of Olympus is nearly Io,000 ft. high; it is covered with See also:snow for great See also:part of the See also:year. Olympus is a See also:mountain of massive See also:appearance, in many places rising in tremendous precipices broken by vast ravines, above which is the broad See also:summit. The See also:lower parts are densely wooded; the summit is naked See also:rock. See also:Homer calls the mountain ayavvu j,os, fcaKpos, 7roXvaeipas: the epithets vu oeis, aoXvbevbpos, frondosus and opacus are used by other poets. The See also:modern name is "EAv nro, a See also:dialectic See also:form of the See also:ancient word. The peak of Mount See also:Lycaeus in the south-See also:west of See also:Arcadia was called Olympus. See also:East of See also:Olympia, on the See also:north See also:bank of the See also:Alpheus, was a See also:hill bearing this name; beside Sellasia in See also:Laconia another. The name was even commoner in Asia II Minor: a lofty See also:chain in See also:Mysia (Keshish Dagh), a ridge east of See also:Smyrna (Nil Dagh), other mountains in See also:Lycia, in See also:Galatia, in See also:Cilicia, in See also:Cyprus, &c., were all called Olympus.

II. A lofty peak, rising high above the clouds of the lower See also:

atmosphere into the clear See also:ether, seemed to be the chosen seat of the deity. In the Iliad the gods are described as dwelling on the See also:top of the mountain; in the Odyssey Olympus is regarded as a more remote and less definite locality; and in later poets we find similar divergence of ideas, from a definite mountain to a vague conception of See also:heaven. In the elaborate See also:mythology of See also:Greek literature Olympus was the See also:common home of the multitude of gods. Each deity had his See also:special haunts, but all had a See also:residence at the See also:court of See also:Zeus on Olympus; here were held the assemblies and the common feasts of the gods.

End of Article: OLYMPUS

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