DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0160
ioo The cult of Zeus on Mount Olympos
§ 4. Zeus and Olympos.
(a) The cult of Zeus on Mount Olympos.
Olympos was an ancient, perhaps a pre-Greek1, name for a whole
series of mountains in Greece and Asia Minor. Of the Arcadian
Olympos I have already spoken. Lakonike had its Olympos near
the town of Sellasia2. Pisa in Elis was situated between two
mountains named Ossa and Olympos3, homonyms of the greater
Ossa and Olympos in Thessaly and Makedonia. A mountain
near Laurion in Attike is still called Olympos4, as is another and
loftier height near Eretria in Euboia5, and a third in Skyros6. A
mountain-village in Karpathos bears the same name7. The Mysian
Olympos is a mountain-chain forming the boundary between
Bithynia and Mysia. It was sometimes confused with Mount
Ider indeed four peaks of Mount Ide opposite to the town of
Antandros bore the name Olympos8. There was another Olympos
in Galatia9, unless we should identify it with the Mysian range,
another in Lydia10, another in Lykia11, yet another in Kilikia12.
Lesbos too had its Mount Olympos13, and Kypros had two heights
that bore that name14. Finally Panchaia, the fabulous island of
Euhemeros, had an Olympos of its own15.
the head on the Amisos coin as that of Perseus wearing the cap of Hades, and similarly g
explains the wolf-skin or dog-skin cap of Athena in the Villa Albani (Helbig Guide Class. 5a
Ant. Rome ii. 46 no. 781, Brunn-Bruckmann Denkm. der gr. und rom. Sculpt, pi. 226) and«3
on two Roman monuments found near Treves (F. Hettner Die romischen Steindenkmaler'^
des Provinzialmuseums zu Trier Trier 1893 p. 20 f. no. 27 d, p. 40 f. no. 55). Cp. also -
the antefixes from Ruvo (A/on. d. Inst, iii pi. 8, b, Ann. d. Inst. 1839 xi. 225 ff.) and
Tarentum (British Museum, Terracotta Room, case 43—uncatalogued) showing the
Gorgon's head in a skin cap. For a late (s. xii?) relief of a man with a wolf's or dog's
head see O. M. Dalton Byzantine Art and Archaeology Oxford 191 r p. 160 fig. 92.
1 A. Fick Vorgriechische Ortsnamen Gottingen 1905 pp. 77, 127, 164 suggests that it
may have been a Phrygian name. Id. Hattiden und Danubier in Griechenland Gottingen
1909 prefers to regard it as ' Pelasgian.'
2 Polyb. 1. 65. 8f., 66. 8 and 10, 69. 3, 5. 24. 9.
3 Strab. 356, Eustath. in Dionys. per. 409, schol. Ap. Rhod. 1. 598.
4 K. Baedeker Greece Leipsic 1889 p. 131.
5 K. Baedeker op. cit. p. 202, J. Murray Greece London 1900 pp. 702, 734.
6 General-Karte von Griechenland Wien 1885 pi. 5.
7 R. M. Dawkins in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1902—1903 ix. 188 ff.
8 Strab. 470, Eustath. in II. p. 27, 44 f.
9 Polyb. 21. 37. 9, Liv. 38. 18 ff., Val. Max. 6. 1. 2 ext., Flor. 1. 27. 5, Oros. 4. 20.
25, Amm. Marc. 26. 9. 2, Sex. Ruf. n.
10 Athen. 38 F, Plin. nat.hist. 5. 118, Val. Max. 1. 7. 4 ext.
11 Strab. 666, Plin. nat. hist. 21. 31, Phot. bibl. p. 298 b 23 f. Bekker. See further
De Vit Onomasticon iv. 796 f.
12 Strab. 671, schol. Ap. Rhod. 1. 598.
13 Plin. nat. hist. 5. 140.
14 Strab. 682 f., Eustath. in II. p. 27, 40 f. 15 Diod. 5. 44.
§ 4. Zeus and Olympos.
(a) The cult of Zeus on Mount Olympos.
Olympos was an ancient, perhaps a pre-Greek1, name for a whole
series of mountains in Greece and Asia Minor. Of the Arcadian
Olympos I have already spoken. Lakonike had its Olympos near
the town of Sellasia2. Pisa in Elis was situated between two
mountains named Ossa and Olympos3, homonyms of the greater
Ossa and Olympos in Thessaly and Makedonia. A mountain
near Laurion in Attike is still called Olympos4, as is another and
loftier height near Eretria in Euboia5, and a third in Skyros6. A
mountain-village in Karpathos bears the same name7. The Mysian
Olympos is a mountain-chain forming the boundary between
Bithynia and Mysia. It was sometimes confused with Mount
Ider indeed four peaks of Mount Ide opposite to the town of
Antandros bore the name Olympos8. There was another Olympos
in Galatia9, unless we should identify it with the Mysian range,
another in Lydia10, another in Lykia11, yet another in Kilikia12.
Lesbos too had its Mount Olympos13, and Kypros had two heights
that bore that name14. Finally Panchaia, the fabulous island of
Euhemeros, had an Olympos of its own15.
the head on the Amisos coin as that of Perseus wearing the cap of Hades, and similarly g
explains the wolf-skin or dog-skin cap of Athena in the Villa Albani (Helbig Guide Class. 5a
Ant. Rome ii. 46 no. 781, Brunn-Bruckmann Denkm. der gr. und rom. Sculpt, pi. 226) and«3
on two Roman monuments found near Treves (F. Hettner Die romischen Steindenkmaler'^
des Provinzialmuseums zu Trier Trier 1893 p. 20 f. no. 27 d, p. 40 f. no. 55). Cp. also -
the antefixes from Ruvo (A/on. d. Inst, iii pi. 8, b, Ann. d. Inst. 1839 xi. 225 ff.) and
Tarentum (British Museum, Terracotta Room, case 43—uncatalogued) showing the
Gorgon's head in a skin cap. For a late (s. xii?) relief of a man with a wolf's or dog's
head see O. M. Dalton Byzantine Art and Archaeology Oxford 191 r p. 160 fig. 92.
1 A. Fick Vorgriechische Ortsnamen Gottingen 1905 pp. 77, 127, 164 suggests that it
may have been a Phrygian name. Id. Hattiden und Danubier in Griechenland Gottingen
1909 prefers to regard it as ' Pelasgian.'
2 Polyb. 1. 65. 8f., 66. 8 and 10, 69. 3, 5. 24. 9.
3 Strab. 356, Eustath. in Dionys. per. 409, schol. Ap. Rhod. 1. 598.
4 K. Baedeker Greece Leipsic 1889 p. 131.
5 K. Baedeker op. cit. p. 202, J. Murray Greece London 1900 pp. 702, 734.
6 General-Karte von Griechenland Wien 1885 pi. 5.
7 R. M. Dawkins in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1902—1903 ix. 188 ff.
8 Strab. 470, Eustath. in II. p. 27, 44 f.
9 Polyb. 21. 37. 9, Liv. 38. 18 ff., Val. Max. 6. 1. 2 ext., Flor. 1. 27. 5, Oros. 4. 20.
25, Amm. Marc. 26. 9. 2, Sex. Ruf. n.
10 Athen. 38 F, Plin. nat.hist. 5. 118, Val. Max. 1. 7. 4 ext.
11 Strab. 666, Plin. nat. hist. 21. 31, Phot. bibl. p. 298 b 23 f. Bekker. See further
De Vit Onomasticon iv. 796 f.
12 Strab. 671, schol. Ap. Rhod. 1. 598.
13 Plin. nat. hist. 5. 140.
14 Strab. 682 f., Eustath. in II. p. 27, 40 f. 15 Diod. 5. 44.