The Archaeological findings on Mt Olympus. The Mycenaean and the Macedonian habitants.

There are many references in the Ancients Greek authors about the existence of halls dedicated to the Gods and several worshipping centers on Mount Olympus.
Herodotus mentions Olympus as a rock rising from the sea. According to Pausanias, the mountain was only one kilometer from the sea. (Today's distance is 4 km.)
All this explains why there are remnants of human presence at high altitudes on, as the sea was at the foothills...

The Achaeans made Mount Olympus the residence and worshipping center of their Gods around 1500 BC. They were a colonial tribe which first came to Mount Olympus around 1400 BC. Excavations revealed remnants of their presence such as altars, ceramics, and Mycenaean's cemeteries. When parts of the Dorian tribe entered at 1100 BC the area that is nowadays Greece and settled on Mounts Olympus and Pieria, they found Mycenaean inhabitants. These Dorian tribes from the North (named that way because they stayed in the northern parts of Greece) were also called "Macedonians".
We first see the word "Makednos" in the Iliad written by. Homer describes the high poplar tree. So, for many years the "Macedonians" (The Dorian of the North) believed to be tall people, but according to the latest excavation findings,
it means people that came from high altitude places. Actually, the Dorian settled first on the hills of Mounts Olympus and Pieria. It seems they peacefully lived together with the Mycenaeans, as there are no evidences of conflicts between them, and also the two tribes had a lot in common.
They must have spoken the same language and worshipped the same Gods. As the Mycenaean civilization faded away, the Dorians dominated in the area.

The excavations revealed altars, cemeteries, ceramics, as well as stone scripts dated from 1100 - 700 BC when the Dorians relocated and left in 650 BC the mountain heading to the plain where they built their capital "Aiges".
According to the myth, after the foundation of their capital, the Macedonian king Karanos returns to Olympus to place a trophy, as the Delphi oracle said. The myth reveals that the area was considered to be sacred since the Mycenaeans firstly came to live there.

City of Dion
Dion means divine landscape. The name comes from Zeus (genitive Dios) and the posterior Latin "Divus", the English "Divine". So the town named Dion was a divine place.
It was a very important Macedonian sacred city as well as the capital and harbor of Pieria, as it was connected through the river Vafiras to Thermaikos gulf. Dion is first mentioned in the description of the advance of Spartan general Vrassidas from Thessaly to the land of Perdikkas II,
king of Macedonia.

Archelaos, who ascended to the throne of Macedonia at the end of 5th BC, organised athletic and dramatic contests, the "En Dion Olympia" (Olympics in Dion) that lasted nine days in the honor of Zeus and the nine Mousses. Each day of the event was named after one of the nine Mousses. King Philip and Alexander the Great used to celebrate their victories in Dion with impressive sacrifices to Zeus and the Mousses and by holding these Olympic Games. According to Diodoros, it was at Dion that Alexander celebrated the preparations for his famous campaign by making splendid sacrifices to Zeus, organising competitions and holding brilliant receptions in his tent, which held one hundred couches.

According to the myth, during Alexander presence in Dion a statue of Orpheus perspired. When Alexander asked what this meant, the clairvoyants told him not to worry, because this augury revealed that the historians would sweat in order to describe his achievements! Many ancient authors speak of the masterpiece carved by Lysippos at Alexander's orders, which was erected at Dion. It depicted the 25 mounted companions of Alexander who fell at Granikos battle.
Those bronze statues were later taken to Rome by Metellus. The special affection that Alexander held for Dion is also clear by his desire expressed in his will that a luxurious temple of Zeus should be erected there.

During Philip V's rule there was a devastating raid on Dion by the Aetolians. Their general, Skopas, razed the city walls, houses, and gymnasium, burned the stoas and public buildings within the precinct of Zeus and buried the statues of the Macedonian kings in the earth.

The city was rebuilt and when consul M. Philippus captured it in 169 BC, he admired its fortifications, public buildings, and the vast number of statues. The Roman consul showed great respect fot the sanctuary of Zeus, personally undertaking to protect it.

The history of excavations
Dion is first being mentioned on Nic. Visscher map "Graeciae" in 1682, but the precise location was given by
W. Leake in 1806. He visited the ruins near Malathria village, identified the fortifications, theatre, stadium, a temple, and a tumulus, and wrote in his book "Travels in Northern Greece III" that he had no doubt at all that this was the famous Dion, one of the outstanding cities of Macedonia. L.Heuzey confirmed this in 1855.

During the first systematic archaeological excavations made in Dion from 1928 till 1931 by professor G. Sotiriades, many archaeological findings were revealed, such as a Macedonian tomb of the late 4th c BC wich had a Doric facade, an Ionic antechamber, and a spacious burial chamber, parts of the cities ancient wall, draining and watering system.
The subsequent excavation by Professor Bakalakis revealed the stage of the Roman theatre, the town's odium, and several tombs. Since 1973, the excavations are run by professor Pantermanlis. The major part of the ancient city has been revealed. The most impressive findings are the the 6th c BC Sanctuary of Demeter, the Sanctuary of Isis, a small temple of Aphrodite Hypolymiada (Aphrodite of the foothills of Olympus), the great baths complex, the monument with shields and breast- plates, the villa of Dionysus with the amazing mosaics, the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, and the latest and most impressive, the sanctuary of the sublime Zeus.