Olympos, Karpathos


Olympos is a village and a former self-governing community on the island of Karpathos, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Karpathos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located in the northern part of the island. The total land area of the community is 104.876 km2.

History

In antiquity in this place there was the Doric city Vrykous or Vrycous. Vrykous was one of the three ancient cities of Karpathos. It was located near the village Avlona. Today a small part of the city and the walls are preserved as well as some ruins from graves and three old Christian churches. Olympos was named after the mountain where it is built. The name of the village is feminine contrary to the name of the mountain that is masculine. The name Elympos is used, mainly by local villagers. The villagers of Olympos kept the local dialect and the traditional costume due to the isolation of this place from the rest of Karpathos. The traditional style of the village attracts many tourists nowadays.

Notable people