What is "pieria"

Pieria is one of the regional units of Greece. It is located in the southern part of Macedonia, in the Region of Central Macedonia. Its capital is the town of Katerini. Pieria is the smallest regional unit within Macedonia. The name Pieria originates from the ancient tribe Pieres and the ancient country of Pieris. In Pieria, there are many sites of archeological interest, such as Dion, Pydna and Platamonas. Pieria is also home to Mt. Pierus where Hermes launches himself from to visit Calypso (Odyssey 5.50), home to Orpheus and the Muses, as well as the Pierian Spring. Mt. Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece and throne of the ancient Greek gods, is located in the southern part of Pieria. Other ancient cities included Leibethra and Pimpleia.

In Classical times Pieria was the southern area of the Amanus Mountains, a part of the province of Roman Syria. Cities included Seleucia Pieria and Pinara. Today it is part of Turkey.

In Greek mythology, Pieria was the wife of Danaus. According to the Library of Apollodorus, Danaus and Pieria had fifty daughters, the Danaides who married the fifty sons of Aegyptus. Danaus, however, instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on the first wedding night. All of them obeyed, but Hypermnestra refused. The legendary punishment of the forty nine Danaides was to try to fill up a hollow tank in Tartarus.

Pieria may refer to:

• Pieria (regional unit) in Greece

• Pieria (Syria), a province of Roman Syria
• Pieria (mythology), the wife of Danaus
• The Pieria albedo feature on Mercury
• The 'albedo name' of the Mercury region now known as the Derain quadrangle
• Pierian Mountains, a mountain range