Hyperborea
Hyperborea was a legendary land of perpetual sunshine and plenty beyond the north wind, where people lived in bliss for a thousand years.
The Story of Hyperborea
Hyperborea lay beyond Boreas (the north wind) — a paradise where the sun shone twenty-four hours. Its people, the Hyperboreans, lived free from toil and war, devoted to Apollo who spent his winters there. They never grew sick or old. Every year they sent sacred gifts to Apollo's temple at Delos, passed from people to people across the intervening lands. Pindar described it as unreachable by ship or foot. Some modern scholars connect Hyperborea to knowledge of the Arctic midnight sun.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The concept of Hyperborea may preserve ancient knowledge of the Arctic midnight sun — a real "land beyond the north wind" where the sun never sets.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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