Macedonian “Pierian Mountains” between Geography and Imagination

Summary The article challenges the common modern mapmaking practice (e.g. Hammond and Papazoglou) of identifying the mountain massif north of Petra gorge with ancient “Pierian Mountains” on maps of ancient Macedonia. Ancient testimonies on Pierian Mountains in Macedon, in Thessaly, and on Pieria Mountains in Hellenistic and Roman Syria come under careful scholarly scrutiny. The analysis demonstrates that “Pierian Mountains” as a geographical concept appear relatively late in ancient sources. Initially a mythical and literary conceit, it served as a periphrastic synonym of the Olympian massif (the Pierian mountain, i.e., Olympus) and not as an oronym for a separate range.