O M 
4C8 O L Y 
is an objeCt of admiration in all thefe diltrifis. Above 
this infulated con vent, fituated in a very wild place, there 
are no more habitations on Mount Olympus. Our tra¬ 
vellers, as they advanced towards the fummit, foon met 
with large heaps of fnow; and here the guides waited 
their return, kindling a large fire, as the cold was very 
(harp at this height. Clambering amidft clumps of trees, 
and clinging to the branches of flirubs, which became 
(career as they got higher, and to the projeCtibns of rocks, 
they continued their afeent, till at length the mount 
became naked, arrd prefented only a cap of fnovv and ice, 
on which it was impoffible for them to be fuftained or 
walk. At this time it was the middle of July: the heat 
was extreme towards the bafe of the mountain, as w'ell as 
in the plain ; and the ma(fes of (‘now, which were con- 
denfed near its fummit, did not appear to be on the point 
of melting. However, it is faid, that in the month of 
September no.more fnow is feen on Olympus ; an alfertion 
which our travellers did not credit, and which war. corr- 
tradidied by the teftimony of the Greek monies, who have 
(ucceeded the gods on this great elevation of the globe, 
and who confirmed, what will fcarcely be doubted, the 
perpetual permanence of fnow and ice on the top of the 
mountain. It is impoffible, we are told, to conceive the 
immenfe. extent of different countries which a view from 
the top of Olympus embraces : it feemecl to touch Pelion 
and Oita, which form another chain of mountains 5 and 
the vale of Tempe, which the ancient poets have de- 
feribed as a place of delight, appeared to be a very narrow 
gorge; and the river Peneus, which waters-it, a ffreamlet 
of water.fcarcely perceptible. At the monaftery of Skala, 
the temperature is mild, vegetation vigorous, and the 
number of animated beings greater than the frozen fum- 
mit of Olympus afforded, with the exception of goats, 
native inhabitants of the rocks, and a few bears. There 
are hardly any quadrupeds to be feen beyond the half of 
the height of Olympus: fcarcely do birds pafs this limit. 
The other fix mountains, which bear the fame name, are 
thofe of Theflaly, Myiia, Cilicia, the Elide, Arcadia, and 
the i(le of Cyprus. 
OLYM'PUS, a town of Ada Minor, in Lycia, near the 
fea, between Phafelis and the promontory of Hieron, 
which did not fubiiff in the time of Pliny ; though Strabo 
deferibes it as a large city, one of the principal towns of 
Lycia, in the vicinity of a mountain of the fame name. 
There were leveral other towns of this name. 
OLYM'PUS, in biography. See the article Music, 
vol. xvi. p. 352. 
OLYN'THUS, a town of Thrace, in the Paraxia, at the 
bottom of the Toronsean gulf, between the peninfula of 
Pallene and Sinthonia. This town was poflefled by the 
Greeks originally from Chalcis of Euboea. It arrived at 
a high point of profperity and grandeur; and had frequent 
quarrels with Athens, Lacedcemon, and the kings of the 
latter date, particularly Philip, who deftroyed it, fo that 
it was never completely re-eftabliflied. This deftruCtion 
took place in the year 384 B.C. but, from an epigram 
of Ahtipater of Sidon, who lived about the year 146 
before that era, it appears that it had a kind of renewal, 
by fome power, of which we have no certain account, 
nor do we know how long it lafted. 
OLY'RA, f. [a name borrowed by Linnaeus from the 
ancient oXvqcc of Homer, Herodotus, and other Greek 
authors, amongft whom it was confideredto be a fine fort 
of corn or grain, as we learn from the adjeCtive ohvgiTy;, 
when joined with e.yv.^v(piuq, fignifying “ bread made of 
the fineff flour.”] In botany, a genus of the clafs mo- 
noecia, order triandria, natural order of gramina, or 
grades. Generic characters—I. Male flowers, below the 
females. Calyx: glume two-valved, one-flowered; valves 
equal, lanceolate; outer fubventricole, terminating in a 
capillary, ftraight, even, awn ; inner narrower, acute, 
folded in on both Jides. Corolla: none; neCtary two- 
leaved, very fmall; leaflets obovate, fub-emarginate, 
membranaceous, ereCt. Stamina: filaments three, capil¬ 
lary, very (hort ; antherte linear, acute at both ends. II. 
Females folitary, terminating on the fame panicle, much 
larger than the males. Calyx: glume two-valved, one- 
flowered, large, fpreading ; valves almolt equal, ovate, 
concave, nerved; outer terminating in a long awl-(haped 
fubflexuofe awn, villofe at bottom ; inner narrower, acu¬ 
minate. Corolla: glume two-valved, much (horter than 
the calyx, coriaceous. Alining, awnlefs, blunt; outer much 
longer; neCtary three-leaved, very fmall; leaflets obovate, 
membranaceous, ereCt. Piftillum : germ oblong; ffyie 
filiform, aimoffthe length of the calyx; Itigma capillary, 
pubefeent. Pericarpium : glume of the corolla involving, 
falling. Seed : ovat e.-~Ejfeutial Character. Male. Calyx, 
glume one-flowered, awned; corolla, glume awnlefs. 
Female. Calyx, glume one-flowered, fpreading, ovate; 
ftyle bifid ; feed cartilaginous. There are three ipecies. 
1. Olyra paniculata: panicle terminating, culm branched. 
Roots filiform, long, thick. Culm ereCt, a fathom high, 
jointed, round, branched at bottom. Female flowers 
folitary, terminating the male fpikes, and three times the 
fize of the males. Native of Jamaica, in dry coppices; 
flowering from January to July. Introduced in 1783, by 
Mr. William Forfyth. 
2. Olyra paucifiora : flowers axillary. This alfo is a na¬ 
tive of Jamaica. 
3. Olyra oriental is : Hem triangular ; fpikes compound ; 
feeds triangular, rough. Native of fields in Cochin- 
china. Stem about four feet high, ereCt : leaves awl- 
fhaped, long, partly embracing the (tern ; flowers in corrq- 
pound fpikes. Seeds triangular or roundilh, white, 
large. 
OLYS'SA, a town of the ifland of Crete. Strabo. 
OLZIA'NY, a town of Lithuania : thirty miies fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Wilna. 
O’M, among Hindoo myflics, is a monofyllable of 
very profound import. It is fuppofed to be a name or an 
emblem of the Deity ; and fo holy and awful, like the 
name Jehovah of the Jews, as not to be guiltlefsly pro¬ 
nounced, even by a prieft. It mull be contemplated, or 
recited, mentally; and it then is faid to excite very effi¬ 
cacious afpirations. This awful monofyllable is triliteral, 
and perhaps therefore better written aum, for three San- 
ferit letters do in faCt compofe it; but in compofition,' to 
avoid cacophony, a and u coalefce in o. The firll letter 
is fuppofed to be fymbolical of Brahma, the creative pow¬ 
er of the Deity; the iecond of Viflmu, the preferver, 
and the laft of Siva, the deffroyer or renovator ; for Hin¬ 
doo philofophers maintain that deftruCtion is only repro¬ 
duction in another form. See the article Hindoostan, 
vol. x. p. 116, 125, &c. As all the inferior deities of the 
Hindoos are avataras, or manifeffations of, and refolve 
themlelves into, thofe three fuperior powers, fo thofe fu- 
perior powers refolve themfelves ultimately into Brahm, 
or the Supreme Being, of whom the Sun is the mod per¬ 
fect and glorious murti, or image. (See Murti, vol. xvi.) 
A combination of the three fymbolical letters forms, 
therefore, a hierogiyphical reprefentation of the unio’n of 
the three powers orattributes ; anda word that, if uttered, 
would be nearly exprdfed by our letters aum, or ohm, 
dwelling a little on each letter. A name of Parvati, the 
contort of Siva, isUma, or Ooma, and it is perhaps hence 
derivable; as well of Omkar, one of the molt facred places 
of pilgrimage in India, dedicated to the worlhip of this 
myltenous union. See Parvati. 
In the Inllitutes of Menu (fee Menu, vol. xv.) many 
verles occur denoting the importance of this monofylla- 
ble, and of a text of the Veda clofely connected with it, 
called the gayatri. Among thefe verles are the following ; 
Chap. ii. v. 74. “A Brahman, beginning and ending a 
lefture on the Veda, mult always pronounce to himielf 
the (yliable om : for, unlefs the iyilable om precede, his 
learning will Hip away from him ; and, unlefs it follow, 
nothing will be long retained.” A commentator on this 
1 ** verie 
