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ANCIENT ART
GODS AND MORTALS AT OLYMPUS: ANCIENT DION, CITY OF ZEUS
The goddess, flashing-eyed Athena,
departed to Olympus, where,
they say, is the abode of the gods
that stands fast forever.
—HOMER, ODYSSEY, 6.42
Translation by A.T. Murray, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919)
From the time of Homer, the gods were thought to inhabit the awe-inspiring and eerie
landscapes of Mount Olympus. This belief, passed down in the writings of Greek and Latin
authors over a millennium, made Olympus the heart of Greek mythology and one of the most
enduring symbols of the Greek civilization. While the top of the mountain remained the
exclusive residence of the gods, mortals began to settle at its base. The city of Dion was
eventually established at the foot of Olympus’s eastern slopes, on a plateau rich in natural
springs, rivers, and oak forests. As introduced to us through the words of Thucydides in the fifth
century BC, Dion was a gateway to Macedonia and a sacred center for the cult of Olympian
Zeus and the Muses. It was where the Macedonian kings entertained their friends and foreign
visitors, held lavish banquets, and gifted gold and silver wine goblets to their guests. It was
there that Alexander the Great once erected a royal tent with a hundred couches, and
addressed his companions and officers, in a personal effort to alleviate their gloomy moods and
inspire enthusiasm for a great campaign in the east. Dion’s prosperity peaked after it became a
Roman colony, especially during the second and third centuries AD. After that, the city of Dion
gradually fell into the obscurity of the Middle Ages. Its past glory disappeared under the thick
vegetation that consumed its ruins, and its magnificent sculptures sunk in the mud of the
rushing waters that had once made its baths a famous destination. Over 1,400 years passed
before William Martin Leake, a British military officer and traveler, discovered Dion. It took
another century for an official excavation on the site to begin.
Curated by Dimitrios Pandermalis, president of the Acropolis Museum and director of the
excavations at Dion since 1973, the exhibition will grant the public access to the ancient city’s
daily, cultural, and religious life. These works are a selection from the thousands of artifacts
that have been unearthed at the site in the course of forty years of systematic and scientific
archaeological excavation. Images and videos of the city’s ruins and natural landscapes will
immerse the visitor in the natural backdrop of the artifacts, and bring the ancient city of Dion to
life.
During these forty-five years of work, not only were we able to locate ancient buildings and
portable finds but also to chart the adventures of many individuals throughout the centuries....
The exhibition Gods and Mortals at Olympus at the Onassis Cultural Center NY aims to provide
visitors with a sense of Dion through the presentation of some of its most significant finds, as
well as to introduce the wonder of the natural environment that inspired the ancients to
develop
a sacred center at the foothills of Olympus, the mountain of the Greek Gods.
—DIMITRIOS PANDERMALIS, DIRECTOR OF EXCAVATIONS
The exhibition is organized by the Onassis Foundation (USA) and the Dion Excavations, in
collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports—Ephorate of Antiquities of
Pieria.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue of essays focusing on the lifespan of the city, the powerful influence of Mount Olympus on Greek religion, and different
aspects of ancient customs and culture.
Edited by Dimitrios Pandermalis, President of the Acropolis Museum, Athens, and Director of
the Dion Excavations, the catalogue features essays on topics such as the history of Dion, the
cult of Demeter, everyday life in Roman Dion, mythology, as well as Mount Olympus’s natural
environment and wealth, by Katerina Boli, Archaeologist, Department of Exhibitions,
Communication and Education, The Goulandris Natural History Museum—Greek
Biotope/Wetland Centre; Angelos Chaniotis, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Fritz Graf,
Ohio State University; Maria Katsakiori, Environmental Scientist, Head of Department of
Exhibitions, Communication and Education, The Goulandris Natural History Museum—Greek
Biotope/Wetland Centre Kifisia; Sophia Kremydi, National Hellenic Research Foundation,
Athens; Richard P. Martin, Stanford University; Dimitrios Pandermalis; and Semeli Pingiatoglou,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.