Mt. Lykaion : A Sacred Landscape in Context

This volume introduces readers to the famous Arkadian sanctuaries of Zeus and Pan at Mt Lykaion, a site renowned in antiquity as the birthplace of Zeus. It offers an overview of the historical and contemporary campaigns, illustrating the site’s importance from antiquity to the present through its archaeological, literary and epigraphic evidence.

The first volume of the Mt. Lykaion Studies series introduces readers to the famous Arkadian sanctuaries of Zeus and Pan at Mt. Lykaion, a site renowned in antiquity as the birthplace of Zeus. First excavated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Archaeological Society of Athens, the site has been the focus of renewed interest since 2004 under the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, a Greek-American synergasia. This volume offers an overview of the historical and contemporary campaigns, illustrating the site’s immense importance from antiquity to the present through its archaeological, literary, and epigraphic evidence. A comprehensive geological study of Mt. Lykaion and the surrounding region reveals the impact of this dramatic environment on the site’s development, a sacred landscape that continues to shape the activities and attitudes of residents and visitors today. The breadth of perspectives collected in this volume’s nine chapters vividly illustrate the mythological and historical significance of the Mt. Lykaion sanctuaries for Arkadians past and present.