Mount Olympus

In the Greek myths, Mount Olympus was the home of the gods, a realm that mortals could never reach. It was both a real, physical mountain in north-west Greece, and at the same time was thought to exist on another plane of reality. When mortals died they did not ascend to Olympus as a kind of heaven, but instead went down to the underworld, which was ruled over by the god Hades. Olympus was ruled by Zeus, the king of the gods.

Ancient Greece

Most of the Greek myths were set in an early period of Bronze Age Greece. At this time Greece was not a unified country, but rather made up of many kingdoms ruled by individual kings. Most of the heroes of the myths were kings or princes. For example, Odysseus was the king of Ithaca, Theseus of Athens, and Menelaus of Sparta.

The Underworld