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Summary
Parnes is the tallest and biggest mountain in Attica.
Moreover, it is a source of oxygen not only for the city of Athens
but for the whole of Attica. The names of the two mountains Parnes
and Parnassus have a relative stem; Parnes is mentioned for the
first time in a text of the comic poet Antiphanes back in the 4th
century b.C. Archaeological findings reveal that the mountain was
already inhabited since the Mycenean period.
The summits of the mountain were places of worship
of Zeus who was born in the mountain and was raised by the Nymphs.
The tallest summit was dedicated to the worship of Parneseus Zeus,
while the “Chariot of Celadon” was a place of worship of Semaleon
Zeus. Zeus was the father of all gods and the overlord of the sky.
He was the master of thunder and lightening and turned the clouds
into rain giving man the water fertilizing the ground.
Parnes is covered by a firry wood surrounded by pine
trees and rich vegetation. The morphology of the mountain is underlined
by deep ravines, streams and enormous quantities of water. Water
in the famous Hadrian’s water-tower flows from Parnes, runs a total
length of 25 km and it reaches - today still - the area of Dexameni
in Kolonaki, Athens.
Parnes was also the place where Panas lived, god of
the country, who protected the shepherds and the hunters and looked
like a goat, inspiring fear to the humans because of his appearance,
who was also worshiped in a cave at the top of the mountain.
The tour in Zeus’ and Panas’ mountain is difficult
but rewarding to the visitor who experiences a spiritual uplift.
The Monastery of Cleiston sited in the rocky masses of the mountain,
the Holy Trinity at a height of 1100 m, Saint Peter in Mola, Saint
Mercury, Saint George, all of them little churches, provide a place
of rest and joy to the visitors. At the foot of the mountain towards
Decelia is the tomb of our great poet of ancient years, Sophocles,
reminding us that this was the place where he lived and created
his masterpieces. A mountain full of myths and history.
Parnes is a natural fortress and therefore controls
both ways to the north and to the south. Consequently, it had great
significance through history, as we understand also from the ruins
of castles and fortresses. Decelia was a place of battle during
the Peloponesean war, as the Lacedaemonians had camped there.
The most important of the ruins sited on the way leading
from Athens via Parnes to Viotia, is the fortress of Fily, built
in the 4th century b.C. This fortress became famous because it was
the place where the Thrasybulus’s expedition against Athens started,
an expedition which ended in the abolishment of the “thirty tyrants”.
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