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"No
nation has a land that can be compared with Olympus
mountain, so rich in Myths, historical memories, all
kinds of beauties..." Fred
Boissonnas
"Olympus"
The name Olympus appears for the first time in
the 13th century B.C. Orphic Scripts. The mythical poet
and prophet Orpheus talks about Mount Olympus in his
hymns.
Four centuries later, Homer mentions Olympus in his
two masterpieces Iliad and Odyssey. Later still, the
great epic poet Isiodus and many ancient Greek authors
similarly make reference to Olympus, identifying it
with the Sky (Homer in Odyssey Y 103-113, Apollonius
in: Argonautika I 599)
Etymology
The etymology of the name Olympus
has many origins.
Markus Mousouros (1470-1517 BC) in the "Etymologicum
Magnum Lexicon" writes that Olympus means the sky,
while the name of the high mountain Olympus comes from
"Ololambris" (ablaze) as it beseems the sky.
According to linguist and litterateur Menos Filintas
(1870-1934) the name Olympus comes from the words Uluwen
- Uluen or Ulu which mean high, and the words Bas or
Bos which mean power, i.e. the power of God. So "Uluenbas"
or "Ulubos" is the power of the heights, the
heavenly, the divine, the sublime power.
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