Editing Hyperborea (section)

{{Short description|Mythical northern region in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Mercator Septentrionalium Terrarum descriptio.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|An arctic continent on the [[Gerardus Mercator]] map of 1595.]]In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Hyperboreans''' ({{langx|grc| ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι|hyperbóre(i)oi}}, {{IPA|el|hyperbóre(ː)oi̯|pron}}; {{langx|la|Hyperborei}}) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the [[Ecumene|known world]].{{Sfn|Pauly et al.|1914|loc=cols. 258–279}}{{Sfn|Romm|1992|pp=60–67}}<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Grace Harriet |last=Macurdy |title=The Hyperboreans |journal=[[The Classical Review]] |volume=30 |issue=7 |date=1916 |pages=180–183 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X0001060X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first=Otto |last=Schroeder |title=Hyperboreer |journal=Archiv für Religionwissenschaft |volume=8 |date=1905 |pages=69–84 |lang=de}}</ref> Their name appears to derive from the Greek {{lang|grc|ὑπέρ Βορέᾱ}}, "beyond [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]]" (the God of the [[north wind]]). Some scholars prefer a derivation from {{lang|grc|ὑπερφέρω}} (''hyperpherō'', "to carry over").{{Sfn|Pauly et al.|1914|loc=cols. 259–261}}

Despite their location in an otherwise frigid part of the world, the Hyperboreans were believed to inhabit a sunny, temperate, and divinely blessed land. In many versions of the story, they lived north of the [[Riphean Mountains]], which shielded them from the effects of the cold [[north wind]]. The oldest myths portray them as the favorites of [[Apollo]], and some ancient Greek writers regarded the Hyperboreans as the mythical founders of Apollo's shrines at [[Delos]] and [[Delphi]].{{Sfn|Romm|1992|pp=61–64}}

Later writers disagreed on the existence and location of the Hyperboreans, with some regarding them as purely mythological, and others connecting them to real-world peoples and places in northern Eurasia (e.g. [[Great Britain|Britain]], [[Scandinavia]], or [[Siberia]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Roger |last=Dion |title=La notion d'Hyperboréens: ses vicissitudes au cours de l'Antiquité |journal=Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé |number=2 |date=1976 |volume=1 |pages=143–157 |lang=fr |doi=10.3406/bude.1976.3357}}</ref> In [[medieval literature|medieval]] and [[Renaissance literature]], the Hyperboreans came to signify remoteness and exoticism. Modern scholars consider the Hyperborean myth to be an amalgam of ideas from ancient [[utopia]]nism, "edge of the earth" stories, the cult of [[Apollo]], and exaggerated reports of phenomena in northern Europe (e.g. the Arctic "[[midnight sun]]").<ref>{{Cite journal |first=János |last=Harmatta |author-link=János Harmatta |title=Sur l'origine du mythe des Hyperboréens |journal=Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |date=1955 |pages=57–66 |lang=fr}}</ref>