View source for Mount Helicon

{{short description|Mountain in Greece}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Mount Helicon
| photo = Mount Helicon, Parnassus and Plain of Thebes - Skene James - 1838-1845.jpg
| photo_caption = Mount Helicon, Parnassus and the plain of Thebes ({{circa|1838–1845}}) by Skene James
| elevation_m = 1749
| elevation_ref = 
| map = Greece
| map_caption = 
| map_size = 250
| label_position = right
| location = [[Boeotia]], [[Greece]]
| range = Helicon
| coordinates = {{coord|38|21|10|N|22|49|21|E|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref = 
}}

'''Mount Helicon''' ({{langx|grc|Ἑλικών}}; {{langx|el|Ελικώνας}}) is a mountain in the region of [[Thespiae|Thespiai]] in [[Boeotia]], [[Greece]],<ref>Kerenyi, 1951:172.</ref> celebrated in [[Greek mythology]]. With an altitude of {{convert|1749|m|ft|0}}, it is located approximately {{convert|10|km|mi|0}} from the north coast of the [[Gulf of Corinth]]. Some researchers{{who|date=July 2017}} maintain that Helicon was also the Greek name of mount [[Rocca di Novara|Rocca Salvatesta]] in [[Sicily]] as a river started from it was called also Helikon.<ref>{{Cite conference|url=https://www.academia.edu/10867669|title=Some Observations on the Road Network through the Peloritani Region, North, East Sicily|year=2015|conference=Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology|location=University of Catania|last1=Palazzo|first1=Anna Lisa}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2017}}

==Greek mythology==
In [[Greek mythology]], two springs sacred to the [[Muses]] were located here: the [[Aganippe]] and the [[Hippocrene]], both of which bear "horse" (ἵππος ''híppos'') in their names. In a related myth, the Hippocrene spring was created when the winged horse [[Pegasus]] aimed his hoof at a rock, striking it with such force that the spring burst from the spot. On Mount Helicon too was the spring where [[Narcissus (mythology)|Narcissus]] was inspired by his own beauty.<ref>Michael Grant and John Hazel. ''Who's Who in Classical Mythology''. Oxford University Press, USA; reprinted 1993.</ref>

Mount Helicon and the Hippocrene spring were considered to be a source of poetic inspiration. In the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, the poet [[Hesiod]] placed a reference to the Muses on the Helicon at the very beginning of his ''[[Theogony]]'':

{|
|
:μουσάων Ἑλικωνιάδων ἀρχώμεθ᾽ ἀείδειν, 
:αἵθ᾽ Ἑλικῶνος ἔχουσιν ὄρος μέγα τε ζάθεόν τε 
:καί τε περὶ κρήνην ἰοειδέα πόσσ᾽ ἁπαλοῖσιν 
:ὀρχεῦνται καὶ βωμὸν ἐρισθενέος Κρονίωνος. 
:καί τε λοεσσάμεναι τέρενα χρόα Περμησσοῖο 
:ἢ Ἵππου κρήνης ἢ Ὀλμειοῦ ζαθέοιο 
:ἀκροτάτῳ Ἑλικῶνι χοροὺς ἐνεποιήσαντο 
:καλούς, ἱμερόεντας: ἐπερρώσαντο δὲ ποσσίν. 
|
:::From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing,
:::Who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon,
:::And dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring
:::And the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and,
:::When they have washed their tender bodies in [[Permessus]]
:::Or in the ''Horse's Spring'' or [[Olmeius]],
:::Make their fair, lovely dances upon highest Helicon
:::And move with vigorous feet.<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 1–8, ed. and commented by Richard S. Caldwell, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company, 1987.</ref>
|}


[[File:Antakya Museum Hotel Helicon mosaic sept 2019 5669.jpg|thumb|Roman mosaic with personifications of Boeotia and Mount Helicon from [[Antioch]].]]

Later in the text, he describes a meeting between himself and the Muses on Mount Helicon, where he had been pasturing sheep when the goddesses presented him with a laurel staff, a symbol of poetic authority.<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 22–35.</ref> The Helicon thus was an [[emblem]] of poetical inspiration. (It is not clear, if the other names mentioned&nbsp;– Permessus and Olmeius&nbsp;– are different springs or other names for Hippocrene.) In the ''[[Homeric Hymn]]'' to [[Poseidon]]&nbsp;– generally dated to the seventh century, but a bit later than Hesiod's works&nbsp;– a brief invocation, the god is hailed as "Lord of Helicon".<ref>[[Karl Kerényi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'', 1951.</ref>

In his ''[[Aitia]]'', the third-century BC poet [[Callimachus]] recounts his dream in which he was young once more and conversed with the Muses on Helicon.<ref>Callimachus, ''[[Aitia]]'', noted by Richard Hunter, ''The Shadow of Callimachus: Studies in the Reception of Hellenistic Poetry at Rome'' 2006:16.</ref> and thus follows explicitly in the footsteps of Hesiod. He also placed on Helicon the episode in which [[Tiresias]] stumbles upon Athena bathing and is blinded but at the same time given the art of prophecy, by which means poetry and prophecy are implicitly connected to each other.<ref>Hunter 2006:17.</ref> Perhaps reflecting this account, the Roman poet [[Ovid]], in his ''Metamorphoses'', writes of [[Minerva]] visiting the muses on Mount Helicon.<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'', Book V, 250–678, translated by Frank Justus Miller (Loeb Classical Library, third edition). Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1977.</ref>

The cult centers on Helicon established in the [[Valley of the Muses]], a fertile valley near [[Thespiai]] and [[Ascra]], under the influence of the Hesiodic texts, in Hellenistic times if not before,<ref>Grimal, Pierre. ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''. Blackwell Publishing Limited, 1996.</ref> were visited by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in the second century CE.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', ix.29.5 and following sections.</ref> He explored the [[sacred grove]] by the spring [[Aganippe]] thoroughly and left a full description as it then was. He saw images of [[Eupheme (deity)|Eupheme]], nurse of the Muses, and of the legendary poet [[Linus (poet)|Linus]] "in a small rock which has been worked into the manner of a cave" (cf. the religious use of [[grotto]]es). In the ''[[temenos]]'' were statues, some by famous masters, of [[Apollo]] and [[Dionysus]] and famed poets. The absence of [[Homer]] at Helicon has been noticed by Richard Hunter: "The presence of Homer would spoil the party, for the tendency to see these as rival figures for supremacy in ''[[epic poetry|epos]]'' is familiar from the ''[[Contest of Homer and Hesiod]]'', parts of which derive from the classical period".<ref>Hunter 2006:18f.</ref> But even if the presence of Homer at the festival Hesiod mentions in ''[[Works and Days]]'' (650–59) was a later interpolation, the [[sacrificial tripod]] which Hesiod won at a contest in Chalcis in Euboea was still on view at Helicon in Pausanias' day.

==Since the Renaissance==
[[File:Helikonmountainascent.JPG|thumb|right|Hikers ascending the slopes of Helicon]]
The poetical image of Helicon established by the Roman poets became once more an emblem of cultural inspiration with the Renaissance and is often referred to in poetry.<ref>It was such a familiar touch that a humorous reference to Helicon is made in Gilbert and Sullivan's ''[[Princess Ida]]'', near the beginning of Act II.</ref> 
The Hungarian composer [[Leo Festetics|Leó Festetics]] (1800–1884) held 'Helicon balls' at his [[Festetics Palace]] near [[Keszthely]] (whose Slavic place name suggests the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] equivalent ''hely''), also naming the library he founded the Helikon Library. John Milton, in ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', refers to Mount Helicon as "th'Aonian mount" at the very beginning (line 15) of the poem. Torquato Tasso refers to "Elicona" in the second verse of "Gerusalemme Liberata".

==Religious sites==
The monastery of [[Hosios Loukas]], a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]], is located on Mount Helicon.<ref>{{Cite web| title=World heritage list | url=https://whc.unesco.org/document/153702 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210004434/http://whc.unesco.org/document/153702 | archive-date=2017-02-10}}</ref>

==Modern references==
*[[The Four Seasons (band)|The Four Seasons]] released the album ''Helicon'' in 1977, with a song "Helicon" containing the lyric "Take me to Helicon, I want to write my song"
*During the 1980s an [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] radio arts programme was called ''Radio Helicon''.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/poetica/stories/2007/1928559.htm 75th Anniversary of ABC Radio] ABC Website</ref>
*The Scottish band [[Mogwai]] recorded two tracks as part of their ''[[Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996–2003]]'' album entitled [[New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 1]] and [[New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 2]].
*Irish author [[Seamus Heaney]] wrote a poem entitled “Personal Helicon”, which references the story of Narcissus and the mountain's spring.
*The poet [[John Godfrey Saxe]] mentioned the waters from Mount Helicon in the poem, “Where There's a Will There's a Way.”
*In Gilbert and Sullivan's 1884 opera ''[[Princess Ida]]'', ladies who are interested in reading Classics are said to want to "climb the Helicon".
*The title of [[Brian Aldiss|Bryan Aldiss]]'s 1982 novel ''[[Helliconia Spring]]'' may be an oblique reference to the Heliconian springs and their sacredness to the Muses that inspire literature.
*[[Tom Zé]] mentions the mount on the song ''Cabeça De Aluguel'' from his 2014 album ''[[Tom Zé#Discography|Vira Lata na Via Láctea]]''.
*[[Jools Holland]] named his studio in [[Westcombe Park]], southeast [[London]], Helicon Mountain, built to his design and inspired by [[Portmeirion]], the setting for the 1960s TV series [[The Prisoner]].

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Helicon (mountain range)|Helicon}}
* Richard Hunter, ''The Shadow of Callimachus: Studies in the Reception of Hellenistic Poetry at Rome'' ([[Cambridge University Press]]) 2006:16ff "De Monte Sororum: In the Grove".

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mountains of Greece|Helicon]]
[[Category:Geography of ancient Boeotia|Helicon]]
[[Category:Landforms of Boeotia]]
[[Category:Mountains of Central Greece]]
[[Category:Mountains associated with Byzantine monasticism|Helicon]]
[[Category:Mountains associated with Christian monasticism|Helicon]]
[[Category:Sacred mountains of Greece|Helicon]]
[[Category:Muses (mythology)]]
[[Category:Pegasus]]