Leibethra

rdf:langString Leibethra

rdf:langString Leibethra or Libethra, in the modern pronunciation Leivithra (Greek: Λείβηθρα or Λίβηθρα) was an ancient Macedonian city at the foot of Mount Olympus, near the present settlement of Skotina. Archaeologists have discovered tombs there from the late Bronze Age (13th-12th century BC) containing rich burial objects. Leivithra played a remarkable role in the history of Pieria. According to Greek mythology, depending on the source consulted, Orpheus is said to have been born in Leibethra, and to have been buried there by the Muses, or to have lived in the city only temporarily. His tomb was later destroyed by a flood of the river Sys. It was a place where the Leibethrian Nymphs were worshiped. Remains of Leibethra have been found and there exists an archeological site close to Olympus. The location of Leibethra was held to be a favourite place of the Muses, hence their epithet Libethrides (Ancient Greek: Λιβεθρίδες). The 2nd-century geographer Pausanias writes: In Larisa I heard another story, how that on Olympus is a city Libethra, where the mountain faces, Macedonia, not far from which city is the tomb of Orpheus. The Libethrians, it is said, received out of Thrace an oracle from Dionysus, stating that when the sun should see the bones of Orpheus, then the city of Libethra would be destroyed by a boar. The citizens paid little regard to the oracle, thinking that no other beast was big or mighty enough to take their city, while a boar was bold rather than powerful. The Muses also gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethra below Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over his grave. Cults of the Muses were also located in Leibethra. Well-known springs and memorials dedicated to Orpheus were there in great number. When Alexander the Great set out against Persia, the cypress-wood statue of Orpheus was said to have sweated as an omen.