Arcadia
Arcadia was both a real mountainous region in the central Peloponnese and an idealised landscape of pastoral innocence, forever associated with Pan, nymphs, and rustic simplicity.
The Story of Arcadia
The historical Arcadia was a rugged, isolated region whose inhabitants were considered the oldest people in Greece — autochthonous, born from the earth itself. They worshipped Pan as their chief god, and their mountains echoed with his pipes. Hermes was born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Callisto, the nymph turned into a bear by Artemis, roamed its forests. The legendary king Lycaon, who tried to feed Zeus human flesh, ruled from Mount Lycaeum. Despite its harsh terrain, later poets transformed Arcadia into an idealised pastoral paradise where shepherds sang and loved in eternal springtime.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The phrase "Et in Arcadia ego" — "Even in Arcadia, I (Death) am present" — became one of the most famous mottos in Western art.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Pieria
🏛 placeSacred geography
The region at the foot of Mount Olympus sacred to the Muses, who were sometimes called the Pierides
Epirus
🏛 placeregion, northwestern Greece
A mountainous region in northwestern Greece, home to the Oracle of Dodona and the legendary kingdom of the Molossians.
Elysium
🏛 placeParadise for the blessed dead
The paradise at the edge of the world where heroes and the virtuous spent eternity in perfect happiness. Also called the Elysian Fields or the Isles of the Blessed.
Olympus
🏛 placeHome of the gods
The highest mountain in Greece and the mythological home of the twelve Olympian gods. Olympus was imagined as a paradise above the clouds.
Boeotia
🏛 placegeography
A fertile central Greek region whose name means "ox-land," birthplace of Heracles and setting of the Cadmus myth.
Hyperborea
🏛 placeMythical paradise beyond the north wind
Hyperborea was a legendary land of perpetual sunshine and plenty beyond the north wind, where people lived in bliss for a thousand years.
Tempe
🏛 placeSacred geography
The Vale of Tempe, a gorge in Thessaly sacred to Apollo where laurel for the Pythian Games was gathered
Thessaly
🏛 placeregion, northern Greece
The largest fertile plain in Greece, legendary homeland of Achilles, the Centaurs, and the Argonauts' leader Jason.
Libya
🏛 placeGeography
The ancient Greek name for the entire continent of Africa, personified as a daughter of Epaphus and Memphis
Phocis
🏛 placeregion, central Greece
A region of central Greece whose chief distinction was containing Delphi, the most important oracle and religious centre in the Greek world.
Arges
🏛 placegeography
The Argolid plain dominated by the city of Argos, one of the oldest and most mythologically saturated regions of Greece.
Garden of the Hesperides
🏛 placeParadise garden at the western edge
The Garden of the Hesperides was a paradise at the far western edge of the world where golden apples grew on trees tended by nymphs and guarded by a dragon.