Some information in advance
The border between Thessaly and Macedonia runs across the peaks of Mount Olympus. The Macedonian side of the mountains is located in the prefecture of Pieria, the name for this beautiful area has existed since ancient times.
The prefecture of Pieria forms the southernmost part of Central Macedonia and is in turn divided into three municipalities. It is home to more than 100000 people who live mainly from agriculture and tourism.
Pieria was settled approximately 6500 years ago, during the Neolithic period. Historically, the region was represented by the resident Macedonians, whose most prominent representatives were Alexander the Great and his father, Philip II.
The first members of the Macedonian royal family came from the peninsula Peloponnese from the town of Argos, therefore they are called Argeads. The foundation of the kingdom took place around 700 B. C. The history was changeable, one was almost constantly in conflict with the neighbours. The territory of the kingdom was to be extended, the Macedonians wanted to gain access to gold and silver mines on the peninsula of Chalkidiki and in Thrace.
Philip II revolutionized the warfare of the time by introducing the phalanx. Its soldiers, the phalangites, were equipped with spears up to six meters long, the sarissa. Even for enemy cavalry they were difficult to overcome. Philip's son, Alexander, who was later given the byname "the Great", started a campaign directed against Persia, which ended with the creation of the huge Alexander Empire. After Alexander's death, the Argead dynasty was ousted by the Antigonids. The end of the Macedonian royal house came by the Battle of Pydna. The Romans won this war and Macedonia became a Roman province. Excavation sites and monuments such as Dion, Leivithra, the origins of the castle of Platamonas, Pydna and the great Macedonian tomb of Korinos bear witness to this epoch.
Another formative personality was the apostle Paul. On his second missionary journey he passed through Pieria. Thus, the people on Olympus came into contact with Christianity very early and directly.
The apostle came from the city of Veria, where he was accused by followers of the Jewish faith. Paul fled, preached in several places in Pieria and thus created the foundation of the Christian faith in the region. He traveled on the route Livadi, Kolindros, Aeginio, Methone and Pydna. Archaeological evidence and local tradition refer to his special activities in Kolindros. He is said to have preached the Gospel there before he traveled to Pydna to go from there by ship to Athens. In his later travels he crossed Pieria on the historic road that still exists today, heading south.
Very early monasteries and churches were built at Mount Olympus. Today only ruins are left of the original buildings of these times, but at some of the places where the apostle had preached monasteries can be visited.
Today the Archdiocese of Kitros, Katerini and Platamonas is responsible for most of the monasteries and churches at Mount Olympus. The bishop's seat is located directly at the city park of Katerini (Map and navigation). Worth seeing is the Episcopal Museum, which is also used for receptions on special occasions.
Detailed information about History and Archaeology on Mount Olympus can be found at the end of the book in the chapter of the same name.
Apostle Paul
How to get to Mount Olympus
Accommodation
On the entire "Olympus Riviera", from Katerini to Neoi Poroi you will find plenty of accommodation that will fit your needs.
How to get to the sights and how to translate the book into other languages
Navigation
At the beginning of a chapter, you will find the section “Most important”.
In order to be able to find the sights easily, their coordinates are given in the last line.
For example: Map and navigation
Click on these link and you’ll get to “Google Maps”. The exact location of the sight is shown on the map.
Google offers the possibility to use the cell phone as a navigation device. First switch on the “GPS” or “Location” function on your device. After you have touched the “Route” icon (bottom left) you will be shown the traffic connections from your location to your destination. Tap on the “Start” icon and you will be guided to your destination.
There may be differences in handling due to different operating systems.
The Peaks of Olympus in the Morning Light
To translate the text into other languages, I suggest the use of the “Google Translate” app (you’ll find it in your app store). The app works offline, the translation is usually of good quality. Simply copy the text you are interested in and paste it into “Google Translate”. If you are online, the app will also read the translation to you, so you have the feeling of a personal guide. Feel free of course to use any other translation service you like.
Opening hours
Since the opening hours differ not only in the summer and winter months, but some sights are only open sporadically, it can be useful to inform yourself about this before your visit. If available, the telephone numbers are listed under the headline “Most important”.
As a rule of thumb, one can assume that in the summer, almost all described destinations are opened at 10.00 a. m.
Entrance fees
Glossary
I have tried to use technical terms sparingly. If a term is unknown to you, so you will probably find it in the Glossary at the end of the book.
German Version / Deutsche Ausgabe
Falls Sie dieses Buch lieber in deutscher Sprache lesen möchten finden Sie es hier:
If you prefer to read this book in German you‘ll find it here: bit.ly/Olymp20GZ
This Map was Created with Data from the Open Street Map Foundation.
Ancient sites Museums Monasteries and Churches
Dion is located on the northeastern edge of Mount Olympus. It is five km from the sea, during the Hellenistic period, the distance was only 1.5 km. Dion is connected to the sea by the once navigable Vaphyras River.
Until 1961, the current village Dion was called Malathria. The main source of income for the residents is agriculture, animal breeding and tourism.
Mosaic Center
For traditional reasons, Dion has developed into one of the most important centers in Greece, where the art of mosaic is cultivated. For ages,
artists have lived in the vicinity of the ancient site, which keep this tradition alive and teach their skills to interested people in seminars. For this purpose, a “mosaic center” was founded, which is also used for exhibitions in the summer months.
If you are tired after a tour of the Archaeological Park and the Museum, you can take a dip in the crystalclear water of the Ourlias River (also called Helikon). It can be found around 5.5 km west of Dion.
Simply follow the signs to “Olympus”. After a short walk you will reach the Ourlias gorge. Even in summer, the waterfall is constantly supplying cool water.
The Ourlias
Most important
Some History
424 BC the Greek historian Thucydides described Dion as the first city reached by the Spartan general Brasidas, coming from Thessaly (Tempi), to Macedonia. Pausanias mentioned Dion as one of the places where Orpheus lived. In the Classical period, Dion became the religious center of Macedonia. Zeus was worshiped here and the Olympic Games in honor of Zeus and the Muses were held. Alexander the Great made a sacrifice at the Zeus sanctuary before he began his campaign against the Persians. Later he had set up 25 bronze statues of the cavalrymen, killed in the Battle of Granicus, in the Zeus Olympios sanctuary. They were crafted by the famous sculptor Lysippos.
219 BC Dion was destroyed by the Aitolian, but Philip V had the city rebuilt immediately. The Romans conquered Dion 168 BC and gradually, Roman settlers came and brought with them their administration, their measures and weight units. In 31 BC, Octavian declared Dion as a colony that was exempt from tax payments and had a certain autonomy.
After the middle of the 3rd century AD, the decline started by raids of neighboring tribes, earthquakes and floods. In the 4th century AD, Dion (Dium) last flourished when it became a bishopric. The place was last mentioned as an administrative district of the Byzantine emperor Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos (Constantine VII) in the 10th century.
Entrance of the Archaeological Park
The park covers an area of 150 hectares, of which almost 50 hectares are urban and about 50 hectares are sanctuaries. A lot of the area has not yet been archaeologically explored. In the Archaeological Park, sanctuaries and monuments from the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods were discovered. Among other things residential buildings, a marketplace, public buildings, churches, bathhouses, shops, workshops and toilets have been found in the former urban area. Outside are the sanctuaries, the theaters and the cemeteries.
Let's start exploring the park in the area outside the city walls. We follow the path that leads us past the pond, one of the sources of the Vaphyras River, and turn right (south) to the Hellenistic Theater.
The Area Outside the City Walls
Hellenistic Theater
It is set against the great backdrop of Mount Olympus. Follow the path and stand in the middle of the stage (orchestra). You are now exactly at the place where Alexander the Great spoke to his officers before his campaign against the Persians.
The shape of the theater corresponds to the typical Hellenistic style of construction. It is an openair theater built in a northeast direction on the slope of a low hill. The orchestra (stage) was built on clay soil and was surrounded by a trench to drain the rainwater. Underneath the orchestra, an underground corridor was connecting two rooms.
Unique among the Hellenistic theaters was the kind of seats of the auditorium, the koilon. The semicircular rows of seats were covered with 50 by 50 cm clay bricks. The current form of the building is the result of a modern reconstruction upon the antique foundations. The rows of seats in the spectator area are now covered with wooden boards.
History
The theater was built during the Hellenistic period, probably during the reign of King Philip V. A former theater was probably destroyed during the raid of the Aitolians. Inside the building, a larger number of coins from the reign of Philip V was found. In Roman times, useful building materials were removed and used to build the Roman theater near the sanctuary of Zeus Olympios.
King Archelaus held a nineday festival in Dion in honor of the nine Pieric Muses, which also included theater competitions. He invited the Athenian playwright Euripides, who wrote the dramas “Archelaus” and the “Bacchae”. Both works were probably, also performed in Dion.
After completion of all renovations, the theater has been regularly hosting performances of the Olympus Festival since 1991.
The ancient stadium, an important venue for the Olympic Games in Dion, was very close to the theater.
The Stadium
Although known since the discovery (in the beginning of the 19th century) by William M. Leake, the excavations of the stadium didn‘t take place until 1995. During the excavations, many coins were found, the oldest are from the time of Alexander I. After the Second World War, the inhabitants of Malathria (then the name of the village, today Dion) expanded the agricultural land and their settlement area. So as the village expanded, most of the stadium was overbuilt.
Go back the path that led you to the theater about 100 m. Turn right (heading southeast) and follow the small path that leads you around the Zeus Olympios sanctuary to the Roman theater.
Roman Theater
The Roman theater was built in the 2nd century AD. It had 24 rows of seats arranged in a semicircle, beneath them were built vaults. The orchestra had a diameter of about 21 m. The building consisted of field stones, bricks and mortar. The stage was decorated with marble elements. Among the exhibits excavated here was a statue of Hermes.
After visiting the theater, turn north and walk over to the sanctuary of Zeus Olympios.
Zeus Olympios Sanctuary
A huge temple was placed in a sacred grove, dedicated to Zeus. Within were the gilded statues of the Macedonian kings and also 25 statues donated by Alexander the Great in memorial to his cavalrymen killed in the Battle of Granicus. The central square within the site was occupied by a 22meter altar. On metal rings, sacrificial animals were tied. At the sacrificial celebrations (Hecatomb), the most important part of the Zeus cult, 100 cattle were sacrificed to the god. In their attack on Dion, the Aitolians destroyed the sanctuary, which was rebuilt immediately. Remains of the wall, surrounding the site, are still preserved.
Now keep right and walk on a winding path between trees and bushes. It is worth taking a look at the Vaphyras, with a little luck you can watch some trouts. This small jungle is home to many animals, the dragonflies are particularly beautiful, but we have also come across a fox here.
Turn right (east) at a fork in the road and you’ll arrive at the second Zeus sanctuary in Dion. It was discovered by chance when the riverbed of the Vaphyras River was moved a few meters to the west.
Vaphyras
The Vaphyras
Although no separate sanctuary was built for it, the river Vaphyras was considered a male deity. Its source gushes about 100 meters east of the park entrance. Here probably grew the sacred grove of the Muses. The head of a statue, representing the personified river, was found in the source area. According to Hesiod, the Vaphyras springs from the cosmic stream Okeanos, which is ruled by the primeval goddess Tethys.
The Vaphyras is closely interwoven in Greek mythology with Orpheus and the Muses. In the 2nd century AD, Pausanias wrote that the upper reaches of the Vaphyras bore the name Helikon. For twothirds of its length, the river runs underground before reappearing in Dion. According to Pausanias the inhabitants of Dion claimed that once the Helikon flew along Dion. But when the women who had killed Orpheus tried to wash the blood off their hands in the Helikon, the river dried up, wanting no part in this deed. In Dion, he did reappear on the surface.
Zeus Hypsistos Sanctuary
A road led to the sanctuary of ZeusHypsistos. It was lined by small pillars, with marble eagles on their top. The street led to a square where a temple with several rooms existed. In the northernmost room, the Zeus Temple, there was a statue of Zeus Hypsistos and the figure of a marble eagle. The floor around the statue was decorated with mosaics, of which the image of two ravens can still be seen. The floor of the building itself was also covered with mosaic. Here a white bull and double axes were preserved. On the western side, there is a pool of water. In front of the temple are the remains of an altar. A metal ring was fastened on it, which served to tie up the sacrificial animals. Both gods, Zeus Hypsistos and Zeus Olympios, were worshiped simultaneously. While Olympios ruled the people from the summit of Mount Olympus, Hypsistos dominated the sky, everything supernatural.
The Zeus Cult in Dion
Dion was the religious center of Macedonia. At the time of the reign of the Macedonian kings, the temple of Zeus Olympios was the most important sanctuary in the city. It is not yet clear whether Dion got its meaning from the Olympic Games initiated by King Archelaus, or whether, perhaps inspired by Homer's Iliad, it already had a central role for the region. Deukalion claimed, that after the sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios, the second oldest altar dedicated to Zeus was erected in Dion. From the late 8th century BC Zeus was worshiped in various parts of Greece. All these venerations had in common that they took place on the top of a mountain, or near a mountain. Inscriptions, clay pots and remnants of charcoal from the Hellenistic and Roman periods on peak Agios Antonios (2817 m) near Dion, testify that the cult of Zeus was practiced not only in Dion itself. The Macedonian kings used the temple complex to archive their royal decrees. Some of them are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Dion.
If you climb the metal tower, you can see the Isis sanctuary across the stream. Unfortunately, it cannot be reached from here, since the bridge that led over the Vaphyras was destroyed by a flood. So go back the same way you came, but after about 70 m turn right and walk the short distance to Sanctuary of Demeter.
It consisted of several temples. The believers worshiped the goddess from archaic age to the era of the Roman Empire. In the immediate vicinity is the sanctuary of Asclepius. The connection of both places of worship also exists in other archaeo logical sites in Greece.
In an open but walled room, the goddess was offered liquid sacrifices. From here came the oldest finds of the sanctuary. End of the 4th century BC two Doric temples replaced the previous archaic buildings. Smaller buildings were dedicated to the deities of the earth such as Baubo and Kourotrophos. From them, the population requested rich crop yields. Herbal sacrifices, such as cereals or fruit, were spread on socalled cult tables. Archaeological finds and records assign water to an important role in the Demeter cult. It was a duty of the priestesses to ensure that always pure water was available. In addition to its use in cleaning rituals, it was of course seen as a necessary good to allow the growth of the plants. Two circular fountains are among the oldest buildings of the sanctuary.
Another temple served the worship of Aphrodite. The believers hoped for help to increase their fertility. In front of the buildings were altars on which sacrifices were made to the chthonic (in the underworld living) deities.
In addition to the usual finds, such as statues, potsherds, jewelry, oil lamps etc., a ringstone from the Mycenaean times was also found. It dates from the 15th to the 14th century BC and shows a schematically represented lion in front of a tree. The artifact gives an indication of the earlier settlement of Dion. In 1990, the foundations of an altar were discovered east of the temple. At the same point where in 1973 the head of a statue of Demeter was found.
In late antiquity, kilns were operated on the site of the Demeter sanctuary. They were used to make building material (bricks, etc.). Furthermore, a workshop was built, which produced objects of daily use and for cult practices in the sanctuaries.
A few meters to the south you will find the remains of the sanctuary of Asclepius.
The Asclepion dates from the 4th century BC. Deliberately, a place was chosen for it where there was enough water. It played a special role in the practice of Asclepius cult and was needed for religious activities. So far, the foundations of a building with two rooms have been exposed. The discovery of a toilet near the sanctuary indicates that people (pilgrims) spent some time there.
To get into the city, head north on the main path. After crossing the street, enter the area of the ancient city and follow the direction sign to the Sanctuary of Isis. You’ll walk on the remains of the ancient city wall and pass the remains of the Villa Zosa. Replicas of some finds are on display here. You can see the originals in the Archaeological Museum.
Isis Sanctuary
The youngest of the sanctuaries in Dion is the sanctuary of Isis. It was not built until the 2nd century AD on the site of a former fertility sanctuary. It has a considerable size and is crossed by a channel that symbolizes the Nile. The main entrance is in the east, a smaller entrance is located on the north side of the sanctuary. The temple and altar of Isis Lochia (Isis as guardian of the child bed) are framed in the western part by two temples of Isis Tyche and Aphrodite Hypolympiada. In the ground, a basin is embedded, from which water still gushes out from the spring. In the cult of the Isis, the water took on a sacred meaning. In a room, to the north of the temple complex, statues of the patrons of the sanctuary were erected.
We have to consider that in Dion one encounters the remnants of different epochs. Although one also find ruins from the Classical and Hellenistic period outside the city, Roman monuments and buildings from early Christianity dominate within the city walls. The remnants of much older buildings may be underneath. The urban area is still largely unexplored.
The Ancient City with the Places of the Most Important Finds.
The City Walls
If you fancy a slightly longer walk, you can stroll around the city walls. Information boards will inform you about further sights near the wall.
Since Dion was one of the few ancient Greek cities lying on a plain, it was essential to build a wall to defend the city against attackers. In the east, the swamp area of the Vaphyras provided some protection, but otherwise, there was no natural hill and therefore no acropolis. Dion had approximately a square outline. The city wall was built between 305 and 298 BC, under the rule of King Cassander, mostly from the limestone of the Olympus. It was 2625 meters long, 2.60 to more than 3 m thick and seven to ten meters high. The western side has a length of 642 m, the southern and northern section each of 682 m. The eastern part of the fortification has not been fully excavated yet. At a distance of 33 m (100 doric feet á 32.8 cm) were towers with a floor area of seven times seven m. In order to be able to defend the city more effectively, they were built at the outer line of the bulwark. In the southern and northern part of the wall were two city gates, in the western part one gate was found.
At the Vaphyras River, in the east of the city, probably a port facility had been. After the attack of the Aitolians, who partially destroyed the city walls, Philip V had the protection wall repaired. Around 197 BC, at the time when the threat to Macedonia by the Romans was growing, Dion was the headquarters of Philip V.
During the Roman rule, little attention was given to the walls, and in some places, the walls fell apart. They were repaired when the raids on Dion happened more frequently in the 3rd century AD. In places, it is visible that stones and bricks have been placed on the base of the wall, which also today consists of massive blocks of stone. Old sculptures and remnants of other buildings (spolia) were also used as a building material. Flooding in the early Christian period greatly reduced t
