Olympus
Olympus names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Olympus a celebrated mountain of Thessaly
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a celebrated mountain of Thessaly, on the border of Macedonia, 30 miles N. of Larissa; lat. 40° 4′ 32″ N., lon. 22° 25′ E. Its highest his peak is 9,745 feet above the sea, and is covered with snow during two-thirds of the year. The E. side, which fronts the sea, is composed of a line of precipices, while a profusion of oak, beech, chestnut, and other trees are scattered at its base, and higher up are immense forests of pine. It was regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the gods; and the palace of Jupiter was supposed to be on the summit Olympus is also the ancient name of several mountains, viz.: the N. W. range of Taurus, in Mysia; a mountain in the island of Cyprus; one in Lycia; one in Elis; and one on the borders of Laconia and Arcadia.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the highest mountain in Greece. It reaches an elevation of 9,794 feet. Its summit penetrates the clouds and is covered with snow during the greater part of the year. The Greeks considered Olympus the highest point on the surface of the earth-the center of the universe. Zeus and the other gods dwelt on it. Their palaces extended far into the heavens. The mansion of Zeus was situated at the highest point of all. It contained halls in which the gods assembled, visited, and held their councils. It was from Olympus that Zeus surveyed the progress of the earth and launched his thunderbolts. Later in the development of Grecian myth, the abode of the gods receded farther and farther into the heavens.
Olympus A mountain in Macedonia and Thessaly
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A mountain in Macedonia and Thessaly. The ancients supposed that it touched the heavens, and thus they have made it the residence of the gods, and the place where Jupiter held his court. On the top of the mountain, according to the poets, eternal spring reigned.
Olympus the reputed seat Eternal of the gods
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the reputed seat Eternal of the gods, which never storms Disturb, rains drench, or snow invades, but calm The expanse and cloudless, shines with purest day. There the inhabitants divine rejoice forever. -Cowper.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The mountain itself is where it always was, but the numbers have tightened: modern survey puts the highest peak, Mytikas, at 2,917 m (9,573 ft), a little lower than the 9,745 feet Collier's gave in 1921 or the 9,794 feet in Aiton's. What neither account mentions is that the summit had only just been reached for the first time on record, in 1913, by the Litochoro guide Christos Kakalos with the Swiss climbers Frederic Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy. In 1938 Olympus became Greece's first national park, and it is now a UNESCO biosphere reserve climbed by tens of thousands of walkers a year, with marked trails and mountain refuges. The mythology the entries describe is unchanged; the one addition is archaeological, an open-air sanctuary with an ash altar to Zeus found high on the Agios Antonios peak.
Written for this edition, 2026.