OUREA
the Protogenoi of the mountains, and according to the Theogony of Hesiod, children of Gaia and the Greek personifications of mountains. Each mountain was said to have its own god.
LIST OF OUREA
AETNA a Sicilian nymph, and according to Alcimus, a daughter of Uranus and Gaea, or of Briareus. Simonides said that she had acted as arbitrator between Hephaestus and Demeter respecting the possession of Sicily. By Zeus or Hephaestus she became the mother of the Palici.
Mount Aetna in Sicily was believed to hare derived its name
from her, and under it Zeus buried Typhon, Enceladus,
or Briareus. The mountain itself was believed to be the place in
which Hephaestus and the Cyclops made
the thunderbolts for Zeus.
ATHOS the god of this mountain in Chalcidice, northern Greece.
According to Greek mythology, in the struggle between the Giants and the Olympians, the leader of the former was Athos and of the latter, Poseidon. Athos cast a massive rock at Poseidon from Thrace, but it missed him and fell into the sea, forming the pyramid-shaped mountain bearing his name. According to another myth, the ancient god Apollo fell in love with Daphne, the daughter of the king of Arcadia. In order to keep her virginity, she took refuge in the main port of Mt. Athos, thus giving her name to it.
Athous is also a surname of Zeus, derived from mount Athos, on which the god had a temple.
CITHAERON a mythical king in Boeotia, from whom mount Cithaeron was believed to have derived its name. He is the god of this mountain and once entered a singing contest with the neighbouring Mount Helicon.
Once when Hera was angry with Zeus, Cithaeron advised the latter to take into his chariot a wooden statue and dress it up so as to make it resemble Plataea, the daughter of Asopus. Zeus followed his counsel, and as he was riding along with his pretended bride, Hera, overcome by her jealousy, ran up to him, tore the covering from the suspected bride, and on discovering that it was a statue, became reconciled to Zeus.
The name may also be rendered as Kithairon or Cithairon.
HELICON the god of this mountain in western Boiotia. He entered a singing contest with the neighbouring Mount Kithairon. The home of the Muse and favoured by Apollo. The name literally means Willow-Mountain.
Mount Helicon was the first home of Pegasus, where he lived wild with the Muses. He was later tamed by Bellerophon.
NYSA the goddess of the mountain which, according to the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, is in Phoenicia near the streams of Aegyptus; the birthplace of Dionysus.
A Nyseide She was a daughter of Aristaeus, who was believed to have brought up the infant god Dionysus, and from whom one of the many towns of the name of Nysa was believed to have derived its name.
The historian, Herodotus, also mentions Nysa and states that it is in Ethiopia in Upper Egypt, i.e. the southern portion of Egypt.
OLYMPOS/OLYMPUS is the highest mountain in Greece situated in the north-east of Thessaly, and is about 6,000 feet high; on its summit which rises above the clouds of heaven, and is itself cloudless, Hephaestus had built a town with gates, which was inhabited by Zeus and the other gods.
The palace of Zeus contained an assembly hall, in which met not only the gods of Olympus, but those also who dwelt on the earth or in the sea. This celestial mountain must indeed be distinguished from heaven; but as the gods lived in the city which rose above the clouds and into heaven, they lived at the same time in heaven, and the gates of the celestial city were at the same time regarded as the gates of heaven.
OREIOS The God of Mount Othrys, a mountain in Central Greece in the northeastern part of Fthiotis and southwestern Magnesia.
Pan advised Terambus to quit Mount Othrys, because a very severe winter was coming on. Terambus, however, did not follow the advice, and went so far in his insolence as to revile even the nymphs, saying that they were not daughters of Zeus. The predicted cold at length came, and, while all his flocks perished, Terambus himself was metamorphosed by the nymphs into a beetle.
Mount Othrys was the base of the Titans during the ten year war with the Olympian Gods known as the Titanomachy.
PELION A wooded mountain in Thessaly, sometimes considered more of a hill than a mountain, located near the eastern coast of the mainland. The slopes of Pelion were the home of the Centaurs before the war with the Lapithae; during their war with the Immortals, the Gigantes tried to pile Mount Ossa on top of Mount Pelion in order to reach the summit of Mount Olympus.
Mount Pelion was the site of the marriage between Thetis and Peleus; as one of the wedding gifts, the Centaur Cheiron presented an ashen spear which he had fashioned from wood cut from Mount Pelion; the spear was polished by the goddess Athena and as a finishing touch, Hephaestus fitted it with a head; eventually the spear was used by Achilles during the siege of the city of Troy; men from the area around Mount Pelion were part of the Greek forces at the siege of Troy and were called Magnesians, i.e. men from Magnesia.
The ship the Argonauts used, the Argo, was built below Mount Pelion; when the Persians invaded Greece circa 480 BCE, their large naval fleet was wrecked by storms off the coast near Mount Pelion; also spelled Pelium.
TMOLOS The god of Mount Tmolus in Lydia, is described as the husband of
Pluto (or Omphale) and father of
Tantalus, and said to have decided the musical contest between
Apollo and Pan.
