Mount Olympus is unusual among sacred sites in that its holiness lay almost entirely in the imagination: the highest peak in Greece was revered not for temples on its summit but as the address of the gods.
The home of the Olympians
In Homer and Hesiod the twelve principal gods, headed by Zeus, dwell on Olympus above the weather, feasting and quarrelling in golden halls. Its nearly 2,900-metre summit, often hidden in cloud, made a natural image of a realm set apart from and above mortal life. "Olympian" became a synonym for the ruling generation of gods themselves, distinguishing them from the older Titans they had overthrown.
Cult at the foot, not the top
Because the peak was the gods' residence rather than a shrine, worship clustered at its base and in the surrounding region rather than on the mountain itself. Sanctuaries in the foothills, and a high-altitude ash altar to Zeus discovered on one of the peaks, mark where cult activity did reach the massif. The distinction matters: Olympus was a symbol to be looked up to, not generally a place to be climbed for ritual.
Afterlife of the symbol
Greek religion faded under Christianity, but the mountain kept its imaginative charge; "Olympian" endures in ordinary speech for anything lofty or serene, and the modern Olympic Games borrow the name of the plain of Olympia far to the south, itself sacred to Zeus. The mountain, first recorded as climbed to the top in 1913, is now a national park and a destination for hikers, with the mythology as backdrop.