Ossa
- a high mountain in Thessaly, now Kissovo, Mel. 2, 3, 2; Plin. 4, 8, 15, § 30: ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam, Verg. G. 1, 281: Ossan, Ov. F. 1, 307.
- —Hence, Ossaeus, a, um, adj., Ossean: saxa, Verg. Cir. 33: rupes, Luc. 6, 334: media, Stat. Th. 2, 82: Ossaei bimembres, i.e. the Centaurs who dwell about Ossa, id. ib. 12, 554.
(Ὄσσα), the personification of rumour or report, the Latin Famna. As it is often impossible to trace a report to its source, it is said to come from Zeus, and hence Ossa is called the messenger of Zeus (Hom. Od. 1.282, 2.216, 24.412, Il. 2.93). Sophocles (Oed. Tyr.158) calls her a daughter of Hope, and the poets, both Greek and Latin, have indulged in various imaginary descriptions of Ossa or Fama (Hes. Op. et Dies,705, &c.; Verg. A. 4.174, &c.; Ov. Met. 12.39, &c.). At Athens she was honoured with an altar. (Paus. 1.17.1.) [L.S]
OSSA (Ὄσσα, Ptol. 3.13.15), a town of the Bisaltae, which, before the annexation of Bisaltia to the kingdom of Macedonia, must have been a place of some importance from the fact of its possessing an autonomous coinage. (Eckhel, vol. 2. p. 73.) It has been identified with Sokhó, a large village on the S. side of the Nigríta mountain, where some Hellenic remains are found on the surrounding heights. Another ancient site at Lakhaná, on the N. road from Serrés to Saloníki, has also claims to be considered the representative of Ossa. (Leake, North. Greece, vol. iii. pp. 213, 233.) COIN OF OSSA.
[E.B.J]OSSA (Ὄσσα).
1.A lofty mountain in Thessaly on the coast of Magnesia, separated from Olympus only by the narrow vale of Tempe. Hence it was supposed by the ancients that these mountains were once united, and had been separated by an earthquake. (Hdt. 7.129; Strab. ix. pp. 430, 442; Lucan (Luc. 6.347; Claudian, Rapt. Proserp. 2.183.) Ossa is conical in form and has only one summit. Polybius mentions it as one of the highest mountains in Greece (34.10); but it is considerably lower than Olympus, and according to Ovid even lower than Pelion. (Ov. Fast. 3.441.) According to Dodwell, who speaks, however, only from conjecture, Ossa is about 5000 feet high. To the south of Ossa rises Mt. Pelion, and the last falls of the two mountains are united by a low ridge. (Hdt. 7.129.) Olympus, Ossa, and Pelion differ greatly in character; and the conical peak, standing between the other two, is well contrasted with the broad majesty of Olympus, and the extended outline of Pelion. The length of Ossa along the coast is said by Strabo to be 80 stadia (9. p. 443). It is hardly necessary to allude to the passages in the poets, in which Ossa is mentioned, along with Olympus and Pelion, in the war of the giants and the gods. (Hom. Od. 11.312; Verg. G. 1.282, &c.) The modern name of Ossa is Kíssavo. (Holland, Travels, &c. vol. ii. pp. 3, 95; Dodwell, Classical Tour, vol. 2. p. 106; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 1. p. 434, vol. iv. pp. 411,513; Mézières, Mémoire sur ie Pélion et l'Ossa, Paris, 1853.)
2.A mountain in Elis near Olympia. [Vol. 1. 817b.]
(Ὄσσα). A celebrated mountain in the north of Thessaly, connected with Pelion on the southeast, and divided from Olympus on the northwest by the vale of Tempé. It is mentioned in the legend of the war of the Giants, respecting which see Gigantes; Titanes.
- Hdt. 1.56
- separated from Olympus by the Peneus: Hdt. 7.128, Hdt. 7.173
- piled on Olympus: Apollod. 1.7.4