Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus was the mountain above Delphi sacred to Apollo and the Muses — the symbolic home of poetry, music, and artistic inspiration.
The Story of Mount Parnassus
Parnassus was where Deucalion and Pyrrha landed after the great flood. Delphi sat on its slopes. The Corycian Cave on its heights was sacred to Pan and the nymphs. The Castalian Spring at its base was where the Pythia purified herself before delivering oracles. Poets drank from the spring for inspiration. The mountain became synonymous with artistic achievement — to "climb Parnassus" meant to reach poetic greatness.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The word "Parnassian" describes a school of French poetry (1860s-1890s) dedicated to formal perfection — named after this mountain of the Muses.
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
Helicon
🏛 placepoetry, inspiration
The Boeotian mountain sacred to the Muses and Apollo, home to the springs of Hippocrene and Aganippe whose waters granted poetic inspiration.
Pieria
🏛 placeSacred geography
The region at the foot of Mount Olympus sacred to the Muses, who were sometimes called the Pierides
Ida
🏛 placegeography
A name given to sacred mountains in both Crete and the Troad, sites of divine birth and the Judgment of Paris.
Hippocrene
🏛 placeSacred geography
The sacred spring on Mount Helicon created by the hoof of Pegasus, source of poetic inspiration
Mount Ida
🏛 placeMountain above Troy where gods watched the war
Mount Ida near Troy was the mountain from which the gods observed the Trojan War and where Paris judged the beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.
Mount Ossa
🏛 placemountain, Thessaly
A mountain in Thessaly that the Giants stacked beneath Pelion in their attempt to storm the heavens and overthrow the Olympian gods.
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.
Mount Pelion
🏛 placemountain, Thessaly
A forested mountain in Thessaly, home of the wise Centaur Chiron and the site of the fateful wedding of Peleus and Thetis.
Mount Olympus
🏛 placedivine, throne
The highest mountain in Greece and mythological home of the twelve Olympian gods, whose snow-covered peak was believed to pierce the boundary between earth and heaven.
Pelion
🏛 placeGeography
A forested mountain in Thessaly, home of the centaur Chiron and the site where the Argo was built
Acrocorinth
🏛 placegeography
The towering citadel rock above Corinth, sacred to Aphrodite and site of her famous temple.
Tempe
🏛 placeSacred geography
The Vale of Tempe, a gorge in Thessaly sacred to Apollo where laurel for the Pythian Games was gathered