Mount Helicon
| Mount Helicon | |
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Ascent on Mountain Helikon
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 1,749 m (5,738 ft) |
| Coordinates | 38°21′10″N 22°49′21″E / 38.35278°N 22.82250°ECoordinates: 38°21′10″N 22°49′21″E / 38.35278°N 22.82250°E |
| Geography | |
| Parent range | Helicon |
Mount Helicon (Ancient Greek: Ἑλικών; Modern Greek: Ελικώνας) is a mountain in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece, celebrated in Greek mythology. With an elevation of 1,749 metres (5,738 ft), it is located approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth.
In Greek mythology, two springs sacred to the Muses were located here: the Aganippe and the Hippocrene, both of which bear "horse" (ἵππος hippos) in their names. In a related myth, the Hippocrene spring was created when the winged horse Pegasus aimed his hoof at a rock, striking it with such force that the spring burst from the spot. On Mt. Helicon too was the spring where Narcissus was inspired by his own beauty.
In his Aitia, Callimachus recounts his dream in which he was young once more and conversed with the Muses on Helicon. There had been a temple built on Helicon in their honor which contained statues of these Muses, and in his Metamorphoses the Roman poet Ovid writes of Minerva visiting the muses on Mount Helicon.
The Hippocrene spring was considered to be a source of poetic inspiration. In the late seventh century BCE, the poet Hesiod sang how in his youth he had pastured his sheep on the slopes of Helicon where Eros and the Muses already had sanctuaries and a dancing-ground near the summit, where "their pounding feet awaken desire". There the Muses inspired him and he began to sing of the origins of the gods. Thus Helicon became an emblem of poetical inspiration. Callimachus explicitly follows in the footsteps of Hesiod and he placed on Helicon the episode in which Tiresias stumbles upon Athena bathing and is blinded but given the art of prophecy.
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Wikipedia