Editing Mount Parnassus

{{Short description|Mountain of central Greece that hosts Delphi}}
{{redirect|Parnassus}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Parnassus
| other_name = ''Παρνασσός''
| photo = Parnassos2.jpg
| photo_caption = Mount Parnassus
| elevation_m = 2457
| elevation_ref = <ref name="peaklist">[http://peaklist.org/WWlists/ultras/EuroCoreP1500m.html "Europe Ultra-Prominences"] Listed as "Liakoura". Peaklist.org. Retrieved 2012-02-19.</ref>
| prominence_m = 1590
| prominence_ref = <ref name="peaklist"/>
| listing = [[Ultra prominent peak|Ultra]]
| location = [[Parnassos (municipality)|Parnassos]] and [[Arachova]], [[Central Greece (administrative region)|Central Greece]]
| coordinates = {{coord|38|32|09|N|22|37|27|E|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref = <ref name="peaklist"/>
| topo = 
| type =
| age =
| first_ascent =
| easiest_route = Hike
| map           = Greece
| map_caption = 
| label =
| label_position = top
| relief = 1
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-zoom = 9
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
}}

'''Mount Parnassus''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ɑr|ˈ|n|æ|s|ə|s}}; {{langx|el|Παρνασσός}}, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central [[Greece]] that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the countryside and is a major international recreational site with views of mountain landscapes. Economically, its rolling foothills and valleys host extensive groves of [[olive]], a cash crop marketed world-wide since prehistory. The mountain is also the location of historical, archaeological, and other cultural sites, such as [[Delphi]] perched on the southern slopes of the mountain in a rift valley north of the [[Gulf of Corinth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mount Parnassus {{!}} Delphi, Oracle, Mythology {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Parnassus |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

Parnassus has an abundance of trails for hiking in the three warm seasons. In the winter, the entire range is open to skiing, especially from the resorts of [[Arachova]]. Its melting snows are a source of municipal water for the surrounding communities. The mountain is composed of [[limestone]], but also contains [[bauxite]] aluminum ore, which is mined and processed. In war, Parnassus has been a center of resistance if need be, providing cover and refuge to partisans.

Parnassus is mentioned in early Ancient Greek literature. Many of its ancient communities are cited in [[Homer|Homer's]] [[Iliad]]. From a linguistic point of view, it was home to states of the [[Dorians]], such as the [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phokians]], who spoke a [[Doric Greek|Doric]] dialect, Phokian. According to [[Greek mythology]], this mountain was sacred to [[Dionysus]] and the [[Dionysian mysteries]]; it was also sacred to [[Apollo]] and the [[Corycian]] [[nymph]]s, and it was the home of the [[Muse]]s.

However, there is a significant gap in the proto-history of the name, Parnassos. [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] settlements were abundant to the south and east. They had good views of Parnassus, and climbed some part of it frequently, and yet the name remains unattested in what is known of their language, [[Mycenaean Greek]], which is written in [[Linear B]] script.

==Etymology==
The philologist [[Leonard Robert Palmer]] suggested that Parnassus is a name derived from [[Luwian language]], one of the [[Anatolian languages]]. In his view, the name derives from ''parnassas'', the possessive adjective of the [[Luwian language|Luwian]] word ''parna'' meaning ''house'', or specifically ''temple'', so the name effectively means the ''mountain of the house of the god''.<ref name="Palmer">{{cite book | last=Palmer | first=Leonard R. | author-link=Leonard Robert Palmer | year=1965 | title=Mycenaeans and Minoans | edition=2nd | location=New York | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | page=30}}</ref> Such a derivation, being consistent with the reputation of the mountain as being a holy one, where the power of divinity is manifested, has always been considered a strong one, even by critics of the theory. Palmer goes on to postulate that some pre-Greek people were Anatolian, perhaps from an earlier wave of conquest, and that their country and facilities were taken by the proto-Greeks.

The consistency, however, ends there. With regard to a possible preponderance of the evidence, this one word remains an isolate{{Dubious|There are other mountains in Greece that contain the Anatolian root Parna: Parnetha, Parnon|date=January 2024}}. There is no historical or archaeological evidence to tie the name to an Anatolian presence. [[George E. Mylonas|G. Mylonas]], reviewing the possibilities, found nothing at all to tie the archaeology around the mountain to anything Anatolian, and although a probable Cretan connection has been detected, there is nothing to tie the Cretans to the Luwians.<ref>{{cite journal | first=George E. | last=Mylonas | title=The Luwian Invasions of Greece | author-link=George E. Mylonas | journal=Hesperia | volume=31 | number=3 | year=1962 | pages=221–316 | jstor=147122 | url=https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/147122.pdf}}</ref> [[Linear A]], the script of the [[Minoans]], as the Cretans have been called, remains yet undeciphered. In summary, the ethnicity of the pre-Greek people or peoples, after many decades of scholarship, remains unknown, and there is yet no explanation of how and when this mountain was named with a Luwian name.

==Geology and geography==
Parnassus is one of the largest mountainous regions of Mainland Greece and one of the highest Greek mountains. It spreads over three municipalities, namely [[Boeotia]], [[Phthiotis]] and [[Phocis]], where its largest part lies. Its altitude is 2,457 meters (8,061 feet), and its highest peak is Liakouras. To the northwest, it is connected to [[Mount Giona]] and to the south to Kirphe.

The mountain is delimited to the east by the valley of the Boeotian Kephissus and to the west by the valley of [[Amfissa]]. An unusual geological feature of Parnassus is its rich deposits of [[bauxite]], which has led to their systematic mining since the end of the 1930s, resulting in ecological damage to part of the mountain.<ref name="racot">Racot, A., 1967,"Les Parnassiens, introduction and commentaries by M. Pakenham", presented by Louis Forestier, ''Aux Lettres modernes: collection avant-siècle''</ref>

==Climate==
Mount Parnassus has very cold winters and cool summers. Below the data of the [[World Meteorological Organization]] station in the [[doline]] of Vathistalos.

{{Weather box
| location = [[Doline]] Vathistalos 1780 m a.s.l. (2017-2023)
| metric first = yes
| single line = yes
|Jan high C=2.1
|Feb high C=2.3
|Mar high C=4.1
|Apr high C=9.1
|May high C=13.8
|Jun high C=17.0
|Jul high C=20.3
|Aug high C=20.0
|Sep high C=16.2
|Oct high C=12.9
|Nov high C=7.8
|Dec high C=4.8

|Jan mean C= -3.3
|Feb mean C= -2.7
|Mar mean C= -0.7
|Apr mean C=3.5
|May mean C=7.9
|Jun mean C=10.7
|Jul mean C=13.3
|Aug mean C=13.5
|Sep mean C=9.7
|Oct mean C=6.3
|Nov mean C=3.2
|Dec mean C= -0.4

|Jan low C= -8.7
|Feb low C= -7.6
|Mar low C= -5.5
|Apr low C= -2.2
|May low C=2.0
|Jun low C=4.3
|Jul low C=6.2
|Aug low C=6.9
|Sep low C=3.2
|Oct low C= -0.3
|Nov low C= -1.5
|Dec low C= -5.6

|Jan record high C  = 12.0
|Feb record high C  = 13.1
|Mar record high C  = 13.5
|Apr record high C  = 19.0
|May record high C  = 26.9
|Jun record high C  = 26.2
|Jul record high C  = 28.8
|Aug record high C  = 29.8
|Sep record high C  = 25.0
|Oct record high C  = 22.8
|Nov record high C  = 18.5
|Dec record high C  = 14.1
|Jan record low C   = -28.6
|Feb record low C   = -23.9
|Mar record low C   = -28.1
|Apr record low C   = -16.0
|May record low C   = -7.9
|Jun record low C   = -5.8
|Jul record low C   = -1.6
|Aug record low C   = -3.3
|Sep record low C   = -11.3
|Oct record low C   = -14.1
|Nov record low C   = -17.7
|Dec record low C   = -27.9
|Jan rain mm=46.8
|Feb rain mm=45.5
|Mar rain mm=98.5
|Apr rain mm=52.1
|May rain mm=69.3
|Jun rain mm=54.1
|Jul rain mm=21.2
|Aug rain mm=40.1
|Sep rain mm=163.9
|Oct rain mm=81.8
|Nov rain mm=108.2
|Dec rain mm=146.6

|source 1= [[National Observatory of Athens]] Monthly Bulletins (Dec 2017 -  Dec 2023) <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.meteo.gr/Monthly_Bulletins.cfm | title=Meteo.gr - Προγνώσεις καιρού για όλη την Ελλάδα }}</ref> |source 2= Vathistalos N.O.A station,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/vathistalos/ | title=Latest Conditions in Vathistalos }}</ref> [[World Meteorological Organization]]<ref name="WMO">{{cite web | url=https://oscar.wmo.int/surface/#/search/station/stationReportDetails/0-300-1-vathistalos | title=World Meteorological Organization | accessdate=14 July 2023}}</ref>
}}

==Mythology==
[[File:Life_of_Orpheus_Greek_Mythology_(Extra_Details).svg|thumb|Orpheus, life and events in Parnassus.]]

Mount Parnassus is named after [[Parnassus (mythology)|Parnassos]], son of the [[nymph]] [[Kleodora]] and the man [[Cleopompus|Kleopompus]]. A city of which Parnassos was the leader was flooded by torrential rains. The citizens ran from the flood, following the howling of wolves, up the mountain slope. There, the survivors built another city called Lykoreia, which in [[Greek language|Greek]] means "the howling of the wolves." While [[Orpheus]] was living<ref>The Greek Gods by Hoopes And Evslin, {{ISBN|0-590-44110-8}}, {{ISBN|0-590-44110-8}}, 1995, page 77
His father was a Thracian king; His mother the muse Calliope. For a while he lived on Parnassus with his mother and his eight beautiful aunts, and there met Apollo who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Taken with Orpheus, Apollo gave him his little golden lyre and taught him to play.  His mother taught him to make verses for singing.
</ref> with his mother and his eight beautiful aunts on Parnassus, he met [[Apollo]], who was courting the laughing muse [[Thalia (muse)|Thalia]]. Becoming fond of [[Orpheus]], Apollo gave him a little golden [[lyre]] and taught him to play it. Orpheus's mother taught him to write verses for singing. As the [[Oracle of Delphi]] was sacred to the god [[Apollo]], so did the mountain itself become associated with [[Apollo]]. According to some traditions, Parnassus was the site of the fountain [[Castalia]] and the home of the Muses; according to other traditions, that honor fell to [[Mount Helicon]], another mountain in the same range. As the home of the Muses, Parnassus became known as the home of poetry, music, and learning.
[[File:Corykian Cave, exterior, Kori10.jpg|thumb|Entrance to the [[Corycian Cave]]]]
Parnassus was also the site of several unrelated minor events in Greek mythology.
*In some versions of the Greek [[Deluge (mythology)|flood myth]], the ark of [[Deucalion]] comes to rest on the slopes of Parnassus. This is the version of the myth recounted in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.
*[[Orestes]] spent his time in hiding on Mount Parnassus.
*Parnassus was sacred to the god [[Dionysus]].
*The [[Corycian Cave]], located on the slopes of Parnassus, was associated with [[Hermes]] and the [[Thriae|Bee Maidens (Thriae)]] nymphs. It was later sacred to [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] and to the Muses.
*In Book 19 of [[The Odyssey]], Odysseus recounts a story of how he was gored in the thigh during a boar hunt on Mount Parnassus in his youth.

Parnassus was also the home of [[Pegasus]], the [[hippogryph|winged horse]] of [[Bellerophon]].

==As metaphor==
[[File:Rafael - El Parnaso (Estancia del Sello, Roma, 1511).jpg|thumb|''[[The Parnassus]]'', c. 1509-1511, by [[Raphael]]]]
[[File:Parnassus Dodwell.jpg|thumb|Painting of Mount Parnassus from [[Edward Dodwell]]'s ''Views in Greece'', 1821]]
This relation of the mountain to the [[Muses]] offered an instigation for its "mystification" by the poetic-artistic [[Parnassism]] movement, established in France in the decade of 1866 to 1876 as a reaction to [[Romanticism]]. Parnassism was characterized by a return to some [[classicism|classicistic]] elements and belief in the doctrine of "[[ars gratia artis|Art for the Art]]", first articulated by [[Theophile Gautier]]. The periodical ''Modern Parnassus'', issued by Catul Mendes and Xavier Ricard, contained direct references to Mt. Parnassus and its mythological feature as habitation of the Muses. The Parnassists, who did not exceed a group of twenty poets, exercised a relatively strong influence on the cultural life of Paris, particularly due to their tenacity in the perfection of rhyme and vocabulary.  Parnassism influenced several French poets, but it also exercised an influence on [[modern Greek]] poets, particularly [[Kostis Palamas]] and Ioannis Gryparis.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2051939/data_euscreenXL_EUS_E1284112DD1C89A937BE05F754D27BA7 | title=Ioannis Gryparis }}</ref>

The name of the mountain (Mont Parnasse) was given to a quarter of [[Paris]] on the left bank of the [[Seine]], where artists and poets used to gather and recite their poems in public. [[Montparnasse]] is nowadays one of the most renowned quarters of the city, and in its cemetery, many personalities of the arts and culture are buried.<ref name="racot"/>

Parnassus figures earlier in Jonathan Swift's ''[[The Battle of the Books]]'' (1697) as the site of an ideological war between the ancients and the moderns.<ref>{{Cite web | title=The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift - Summary | url=https://www.thefreshreads.com/the-battle-of-the-books-summary/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707114636/https://www.thefreshreads.com/the-battle-of-the-books-summary/ | access-date=2025-03-20 | archive-date=2020-07-07}}</ref>

==Recreational use==
===National Park===
The National Park of Parnassus was founded in 1938. The idea behind the park was to preserve the natural habitat, for which it was necessary to govern the disposition of its natural resources. However, the park did not include all the terrain considered to be in the range. The highest peaks were omitted.

Within a few years the park aspect of the land became dormant as Greece turned its attention toward ending the German occupation, and then after World War II, settling the Greek Civil War. Parnassus was in a unique position to serve as a center for resistance, as it had for the Greek war of independence. Battles were fought in the valleys surrounding the range.

When the wars were over and the region went back to being an active park, the new science of ecology brought changes to the park administration. Species were inventoried, endemic and endangered ones were identified, and the concept of a protected area was established. Parnassus National Park became a protected area for birds under the "Birds Directive." Subsequently, it acquired other protections under other laws as required by the EU. After 2000, it became Oros Parnassos, "Mount Parnassus," Natura 2000 protected area ID GR2410002. The two are not exactly identical. The national park is about {{convert|150|km2|acre|abbr=on}}. The Natura 2000 area is about {{convert|344|km2|acre|abbr=on}}, bringing the terrain not covered by the park under protection..

Among the endemic flora species under protection are the [[Abies cephalonica|Cephalonian fir]] tree and the Parnassian [[peony]] (''Paeonia parnassica''). In the Park are to be found birds of prey, wolves, boars, badgers, and weasels.

===Parnassos Ski Resort===
[[File:Snow Landscape 27-1-2017-1.jpg|thumb|View of the resort]]

The slopes of Mount Parnassus are composed of two [[skiing|ski]] sections, Kellaria and Fterolakka, which together make up the largest ski center in Greece. A smaller ski center (only two drag lifts) called Gerontovrahos is across a ridge from Kellaria. Parnassus is mined for its abundant supply of bauxite which is converted to [[aluminium oxide]] and then to [[aluminium]].<ref>[http://www.parnassos-ski.gr/index_eng.htm The Parnassos Ski Centre] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822070652/http://www.parnassos-ski.gr/index_eng.htm |date=2006-08-22 }}</ref>

The construction of the ski resort started in 1975 and was completed in 1976, when the first two drag lifts operated in Fterolaka. In 1981 the construction of a new ski area was completed in Kelaria, while in winter season 1987–1988 the chair lift Hermes started operating and connected the two ski areas. Both ski resorts continued expanding, and in 1993, the first high-speed quad in Greece was installed, named Hercules. In 2014–2015, two new hybrid lifts were installed along with a new eight-seater, replacing the old infrastructure.

Today, the Ski Center operates with 16 lifts, two hybrid ski lifts that combine an eight-seater Cabin and a six-seater chair, an eight-seater Cabin, a 4-seater chair lift, a 2-seater chair lift, six drag lifts, and four baby lifts. The ski center boasts 25 marked ski runs and about 15 ski routes of {{convert|36|km|0|abbr=on}} total length, while the longest run is {{convert|4|km|0|abbr=on}}.

==See also==
* [[List of mountains in Greece]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Mount Parnassus}}
* [https://www.vanlife.one/Miscellaneous-galleries/Greek-Mountain-Flora/ Greek Mountain Flora]
* [http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=10343 "Óros Parnassos, Greece" on Peakbagger]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Parnassus |short=x}}

{{National parks of Greece}}
{{Ultras of Europe}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parnassus}}
[[Category:Mount Parnassus| ]]
[[Category:Locations in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Two-thousanders of Greece]]
[[Category:National parks of Greece]]
[[Category:Ski areas and resorts in Greece]]
[[Category:Mountains of Central Greece]]
[[Category:Mountains of Greece]]
[[Category:Sacred mountains of Greece|Parnassus]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Central Greece]]
[[Category:Landforms of Phocis]]
[[Category:Natura 2000 in Greece]]