Mount Lykaion

About

Mount Lykaion (Ancient Greek: Λύκαιον ὄρος, Lýkaion Óros; Latin: Mons Lycaeus) is a mountain in Arcadia, Greece. Lykaion has two peaks: Stefani to the north and St. Ilias (Άγιος Ηλίας, Agios Īlías) to the south where the ancient altar of Zeus is located. The northern peak is higher, 1,421 m, than the southern, 1,382 m (4,662 and 4,534 ft).

Mount Lykaion was sacred to the god Zeus Lykaios, who was said to have been born and raised there. The mountain was also thought to be the home of the mythical Pelasgus and his son Lycaon, who were said to have founded the ritual of Zeus practiced on its summit. In antiquity, it was alleged that this involved a human sacrifice and a feast in which the man who received the portion of a human victim was changed to a wolf, as Lycaon had been after sacrificing a child. The altar of Zeus on the upper sanctuary discovered there, which may have been called Cretea, consists of a great mound of ashes with a retaining wall. It was said that no shadows fell within the precincts and that any who entered it died within the year.

The extensive sanctuary lower down the mountain played host to athletic games held every four years, the Lykaia.

The town of Lycaea was probably at the foot of the mountain according to Polybius while Stephanus of Byzantium also mentions the town.

The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, a joint effort of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Arizona began work at the site in 2004 continuing the topographical survey begun in 1996 and carrying out a full topographical and architectural analysis not only of the altar and temenos, but of the nearby valley where the Lykaian Games were held.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.