OLYMPUS, the name of several mountains.—One bounding Bithynia on the south.—Another in the island of Cyprus, on whose top was a temple of Venus, which women were not permitted either to enter or to
see (Strabo).—A third, Olympus of Galatia (Livy).—A fourth, of Lycia, with a noble cognominal town, near the sea coast (Strabo, Cicero), extinct in Pliny's time, there remaining only a citadel; the town was destroyed by P. Servilius Sauricus (Florus), having been the retreat of pirates. From this mountain there was an extensive prospect of Lycia, Pamphilia, and Pisidia (Strabo).—A fifth, Olympus of Mylia (Ptolemy); thence furnished Olympena, anciently Minor; one of the highest mountains, and furnished Myrius (Theophrastus); situated on the Propontis, and thence extending more inland.—A sixth, on the north of Thessaly, or on the confines of Macedonia; famous for the fable of the giants (Virgil, Horace, Seneca); reckoned the highest in the whole world, and to exceed the flight of birds (Apuleius), which is the reason of its being called heaven, than which nothing is higher: the serenity and calmness which reign there are celebrated by Homer, Lucan, and Claudian.