The Greek people were overjoyed by the recent inclusion of Olympus in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The decision was made at the 48th session of the relevant Committee, held in Busan, South Korea. It is a matter of great satisfaction for all Greeks that the splendor of the mountain of the Gods has reached as far as East Asia. However, we were reminded that much earlier, a century and a half ago, another mythical mountain of antiquity shone in Kleinon Asty: the mountain of the Muses: Parnassus.
Then, on June 24, 1865, the Philological Association of the same name was founded by the four children of the numismatist Pavlos Lambros, who were between 15 and 17 years old. Let us try, then, like mountaineers, to mentally climb the two mountains. Olympus has an altitude of 2.918 meters, making it the undisputed highest mountain in Greece, a suitable place for the twelve gods, who oversaw from above what was happening on earth. On the contrary, Parnassos has a maximum altitude of 2.457 meters and is ranked as the eighth highest mountain in the country. Thus, the Muses who lived there could more easily descend and come into contact with people, in other words, they visited them to inspire them and fertilely stimulate their imagination.
And while the distance between the two mountains is approximately 280 kilometers, Apollo never tired of moving from one to the other, in order to perform the work of the musician. And of course, the splendor of Parnassus is not inferior to that of Olympus, since in the mid-19th In the 19th century, leading French writers of the time, such as Leconte de Lisle, Paul Verlaine, Charles Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier, chose to name their literary movement “Parnassism”. The influences of French Parnassism spread throughout the old continent and influenced many Greek poets, such as their leader at that time, Kostis Palamas, a member of “Parnassus” since 1884. However, something else that connects the two mountains, which UNESCO officials are not aware of, is that beyond mythical symbols, they are also symbols of the heroism that distinguishes our nation.
At critical junctures in our history, the peaks captured by the Turks served as a source of inspiration for our folk poetry:
A.
Don't argue with me, Kissav, you Turkish-suppressed bastard,
where Koniaria and the Larsinoi agades are trampling you.
I am the old Olympus, renowned in the world,
I have forty-two peaks and sixty-two spouts,
every peak and flag, every branch and thief.
And when spring takes over and the branches open,
The mountains are filled with thieves and the valleys with slaves.
B
See Parnassus, proud,
Why are you standing there sad?
You were never trampled.
Karaiskakis also walked on your rocks
You must be proud of it.
And be proud.
Gerasimos G. Zoras
Vice President F. S. PARANASSOS
photo agorawizard, https://pixabay.com
