Bill's Greek Mythology: TFBT: Blessed Olympus

I recently was reading my Loeb edition of the Homeric Hymns by M.L. West. Specifically, the HH to Demeter. These books are great resources. The Ancient Greek is on the left, English on the right. So, I try reading a few lines of the Greek and then check my attempt by looking to the right at the English. It surprises me how much more Greek I know than I thought I know. Anyway, I glanced at the phrase; “μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον”.

I thought I knew what it meant. Glanced at West’s translation “long Olympus” What? Long? But there it is at the Greek Word Study Tool; μακρός / long. Something like “blessed Olympus” would seem more appropriate. LSJ lists in addition some of the more common English words used for translations; high, vast, remote…

So that should be the end of it right? But the phrase “blessed Olympus” really seemed familiar. I searched for it in the Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours Source Book and in the massive collection of on-line texts at www.theoi.com Nothing! Obviously, I am confusing the Ancient Greek word μακρὸν with μακάρων / blessed, happy. So that should be the end of it right? But I am still thinking I read “blessed Olympus”

So after searching Gutenberg.org, Google Books and Google Scholar I found several examples where “μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον” was indeed translated at “blessed Olympus”. What follows is those examples with bibliography to follow. First in Greek from Perseus and then, the “blessed Olympus” text.

Iliad 5.395-399.

“He went to the palace of Zeus, on blessed Olympus, with a grieving heart.” (Blakely, 2015)

Iliad 1.400-404

“Juno, Neptune and Pallas Minerva wished to bind him in chains. But you O Goddess, interposing, freed him from his bonds by quickly calling to the blessed Olympus, him of the hundred hand.” (A Graduate of the University of Oxford, 1821)

“Speedily summoning to lofty and blessed Olympus; - Him who gods Briareos call” (Richard F. Biedermann, 1901)

Iliad 24.465

“ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας ἀπέβη πρὸς μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον Ἑρμείας: Πρίαμος δ᾽ ἐξ ἵππων ἆλτο χαμᾶζε” (Perseus)

“Thus having spoken, Hermes went away to blessed Olympus and Priam leapt to the ground off his horses” (David Gravolet, 2016)

Iliad 2.48-49

ἠὼς μέν ῥα θεὰ προσεβήσετο μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον
Ζηνὶ φόως ἐρέουσα καὶ ἄλλοις ἀθανάτοισιν: (Perseus)

The goddess Dawn approached blessed Olympus disclosing light to Zeus and the other immortals. (Blakely, 2015)

Bibliography

Perseus Digital Library, Gregory R. Crane, Editor in Chief, Tufts University.

The Iliad, Homer, Translated by Ralph Blakely, New York 2015 Amazon says of Blakely that he “is proficient in six languages (German, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin and Greek). He has been an organist-choirmaster and a private investor, and currently serves on the board of directors at the Carolina Art Association/Gibbes Museum of Art.” Apparently he is a longtime downtown Charleston resident

Iliad Handout Lines 1453 to 1530 Translated and Annotated by David Gravolet 2016 Gravolet appears to have written myriad study guides over the years and just graduated from a Jesuit High School with a perfect ACT score.

Iliad Alpha, done into English hexameters, by Richard F. Biedermann ... [and other] members of class one of the graduating class of 1901 of the De Witt Clinton high school. Ed. by Frances Elizabeth Holmant Flint.

The Iliad of Homer translated in English Prose as literally as the different idioms of the Greek and English languages will allow; with Explanatory Notes by a Graduate of the University of Oxford. Printed for Munda and Slatter and G &W. B. Whitaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, London 1821, Women could not attend lectures or taken examinations at Oxford until the late 1870s so it doubtful that is a pseudonym for a woman. In his commentaries on published translations of the Iliad Johnston suggests Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844) as the author and then promptly dismisses the notion.

Other possible sources to check out for Blessed Olympus

http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/homertranslations.htm

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007699905