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We all know that the ancient Greeks believed that their gods lived on top of the mountain Olympus (and some of them in other places like the Underworld). But Olympus - they knew where it was (between Macedon and Thessaly) and also that mountain was never higher than 3.000 meters, so it was always pretty well climbable even in former times.

Is there any evidence of the ancient Greeks climbing Mount Olympus?

MCW
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Orsinus
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    Ancedotely, people didn't really start climbing mountains until the Victorian period. There was nothing of use up there so why go. In this period the vast number of the population we're far too busy with the everyday tasks of producing food, etc. Also condider the danger of exposure, etc without modern equipment and materials. Bad weather at that altitude without good equipment can and has been fatal –  Jun 09 '16 at 08:54
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    Do you really need rock climbing to get to the peak of Mt. Olympus? The mountaneering itself was existing in Alps since the middle of 18th century, although it flourished a century later. – evgeny Mar 11 '18 at 06:12

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The answer is probably Yes, some Greeks had visited the peak around 2900 meters above the sea level. Average people who are fit can easily do it, at least from one side.

But it's important to realize that they didn't expect to meet gods there. According to the Greek teaching, the divine and human spheres only overlapped but they were not identical. One could "feel gods" at the peak but not really see them.

Moreover, the peak of Mt Olympus wasn't the only one where gods were said to "live". For example, the river Achelous was both the "body of flowing water" and god named Achelous, the boss of all other rivers etc. Achelous was thought to be as real and as anthropomorphic as Heracles or anyone else – Achelous actually appears on a painting along with Heracles. And Greeks could surely see the whole river of the same name. But they didn't expect to meet the god near the river.

The reality wasn't "identical" to the divine entities in their religious legends. It was just an incomplete projection of it. This type of thinking with the "layers that are hidden from human senses" may also be seen e.g. in Plato's allegory of the cave.

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Luboš Motl
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    Interesting. So the light-headedness of altitude, actually due to reduced oxygen, was perceived as evidence of divine presence. Makes a kind of weird sense actually. – Pieter Geerkens Jun 04 '16 at 17:56
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    " some Greeks had visited the peak" - a rather bold statement. Can you cite any sources? – fdb Jun 04 '16 at 20:30
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    It's "Heracles". HAIR-UH-KLEES! Not HER-KYU-LEEES! (*grumble-grumble) Gods-danged grumble-rumble* Romans..! :-) – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Jun 05 '16 at 02:37
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    Fine, Bob. The painting with Achelous that I liked was a Roman one, so the other guy was Hercules. It was the same guy who got a new citizenship, anyway. – Luboš Motl Jun 05 '16 at 05:14
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    Actually they could expect to meet gods near rivers, it was common in their myths. – Anixx Jun 05 '16 at 16:42
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    @Anixx I think his point was that the Greeks did, in fact, know the difference between reality and myth (or that they considered the myths to take place in a sort of alternate reality). Consider the Christian Bible - even a large portion of Christians don't consider it literally true; not all of it, anyway. If you only read the text of the Bible you'd never know that; similarly for only reading the myths without knowing what sort of context their society gave them. For all I know, people who liked to read myths could have been shunned as nerds or something. – Tin Wizard Jun 06 '16 at 18:32
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    @Anixx Common in the myths, but that doesn't mean you had any chance of meeting a god yourself. Imagine that there's ten million people in the Greek world, and only a hundred ever met a god near a river once. What's the chance you will meet a god when you go to the river? Gods had the ability to appear to humans, but they could just as well stay hidden. The hidden part is important for maintaining the myth - if they chose so, they could have appeared to you when you climbed on top of Mt. Olympus... but if you didn't see (or "feel") them, it didn't invalidate the myth. – Luaan Jun 07 '16 at 08:37
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    @Anixx Teenage girls (and grown women) in ancient Greece often met gods near rivers (and in other places). Of course they did. Otherwise they wouldn't have got pregnant. – RedSonja Jun 08 '16 at 08:27
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    @PieterGeerkens No, it wasn't the "light-headedness of altitude". It was just a way to speak about nature and the spiritual world. They attributed God presence in tons of other places that had nothing to do with altitude (plains, rivers, etc). – Hejazzman Jun 08 '16 at 11:35
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    But it's important to realize that they didn't expect to meet gods there. do you have a source for that? Im fairly certain the Greeks literally believed their major Gods actually existed on the peak – Notaras Jun 08 '16 at 23:12
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    Why is this answer so highly upvoted? It's completely unsourced. – Jack M Jun 09 '16 at 08:34
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It is impossible to ascertain for sure.

Eleven gods of the Greek major pantheon all lived in various named corners of the mountain. Even Zeus resided on only the second-highest of the many peaks, with the highest, Mytikas, reserved as their meeting pace.) This suggests that the ancient Greeks were familiar with the terrain of the mountain.

The summit height is less than the 10,000 feet altitude where an oxygen supply might be advised, and while technical competency (and helmets) are necessary for a few of the many peaks, ropes are not necessary for any of them. Several of the lesser peaks can be hiked up with only good lungs and strong legs. At least 10,000 climbers/hikers ascend at least one of the peaks every year.

However, the first known ascent of (the peak of) Mt. Olympus was only in 1913.

Just remember - if one is a god, making yourself either scarce or invisible when an inquisitive human comes nosing around is a trivial feat.

Pieter Geerkens
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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – T.E.D. Jun 06 '16 at 20:08
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    The summit height is less than the 10,000 feet altitude where an oxygen supply might be advised Nobody uses supplemental oxygen at 10,000 feet. It's not even common to use it at 18,000 feet. –  Oct 18 '17 at 05:33
  • @BenCrowell good to see you here Ben, you said exactly what I wanted to. :) – fgysin Dec 05 '17 at 15:11
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You are assuming that the Ancient Greeks believed that their Gods were humanly visible, which is unlikely. Therefore, whether or not they climbed Mount Olympus, the Ancient Greeks would not have expected to visibly see their Gods.

From Classical Myths by Barry B. Powell (a textbook often used in undergrad classics courses):

In other myths, the setting is an obscure place: the underworld, which no one in the real world ever visited; Mount Olympus, which really exists but in myth is the home of the gods; or Crete of a very long time ago.

Also:

The events of divine myth usually take place in a world before or outside the present order where time and space often have different meanings from those familiar to human beings.

Basically, their Gods were there, but not humanly visible. That makes sense.

As to whether or not the Ancient Greeks ever climbed Mount Olympus, some sources say that they did and left offerings there for their Gods, later discovered via archaeological excavation.

The first men to reach the summit (as far as we know) were Frédéric Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy in 1913. But from the peak Aghios Antonios you get a view of the two highest peaks.

Mad Banners
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    It is a good point, though. Reading Homer or other myths makes it clear that the Gods had power to avoid detection by mortals and to take on the forms of others. Also like almost all properly understood gods, they tend to be more metaphorical/spiritual than literal/physical, anyway. – Dronz Jun 06 '16 at 05:28
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I believe that regardless to common beliefs that there are and where always human beings who want/ed to experience as much as they can/could. So even if there was no historical evidence about it, I find it very unlikely that nobody climbed mount Olympus.

And I do not believe that it was the light headedness that they felt as the presence of the gods. It would not explain why they felt this presence elsewhere too.

But I think that if somebody is a strong believer and has a higher mental imagination and perception, that both of them enforce each other at special locations. With higher mental imagination I also mean the ability to highly abstract thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc. or reduce them to their essence. For example the ability to think about something and entirely capture it without thinking of the describing words or images.

It is comparable to intuitively understanding a program or a mathematical problem without being able to describe it, just in another domain.

Xenia Bogomolec
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    This doesn't answer the question - the question is whether people climbed a mountain, not whether they experienced the numinous. – MCW Jun 07 '16 at 11:11
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When reading various types of Ancient Greek writings, to the best of my recollection, I don't remember any lengthy or even a minor discussion which referred to any group of humans or an individual person climbing Mount Olympus.

For the Ancient Greeks, Mount Olympus was their most sacred place....it was the place where 11 of the 12 main Deities resided-(not including, Hades). Perhaps the Ancient Greeks believed that this most sacred of sites, should remain as such and not be challenged by human adventurism....(and folly).

It should be noted that nearly 40 years ago, a team of Greek Archeologists literally unearthed the Ancient Greek city of Dion, at the foot of Mount Olympus. The archeological site of Dion, was a type of mini Pompeii, whose panorama....was the sacred mountain. Dion was apparently founded around the 600's BC/BCE, though was destroyed by an earthquake, followed by invading Goths from the Germanic hinterland 1600 years ago.

King Philip of Macedon, his son, Alexander The Great and even Augustus Caesar, visited the city of Dion. Interestingly, we have no archeological or historical evidence that any of these famous Ancient Leaders ever led a military expedition up the Mountain, nor do we have any archeological or historical evidence that the residents of Dion ever climbed Mount Olympus routinely-(or even infrequently).

Perhaps a further archeological inquiry may provide us with some proof that Ancient Greeks living in Dion-(or elsewhere in Greece proper), climbed Mount Olympus. However, until then, we have no evidence that the Ancient Greeks ever climbed Mount Olympus.

Alex
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