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Above them dwelt the Arimaspi, men with one eye; still further, the gold-guarding griffins; and beyond these, the Hyperboreans, who extended to the sea. Herodotus (4.13)
In Greek mythology, according to tradition, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived to the far north of Greece. Their land, called Hyperborea, or Hyperboria ("beyond the Boreas (north wind)"), was perfect, with the sun shining twenty-four hours a day. Apollo spent his winter amongst them. Theseus and Perseus also visited the Hyperboreans.
According to Herodotus (4.13), they live beyond the Arimaspians and were visited by Aristeas, who is said to have written a hexameter poem (now lost) dealing with them.
Large quantities of gold were here, guarded by the griffins.
Abaris and Ilithyia are Hyperboreans.
Hyperborea in Recent Fiction
The cycle of Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard, set in the fictitious "Hyborian era", features Hyperborea as a far northern land of fair-haired barbarians, to the north and east of Conan's native Cimmeria.
Inspired by Howard, Lovecraft used the name in his mythology for his version of an Atlantis.
Most notably, fantasy author Clark Ashton Smith (a correspondent of both Lovecraft and Howard, and like them, a frequent contributor to the pulp magazine Weird Tales) wrote a cycle of ten stories set in a Hyperborea that is an ancient version of Greenland during a warm habitable phase. His Hypberborea is filled with sorcerers, thieves, and strange monsters, and has an abundance of satirical humor.
In the LucasArts adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, archaeologist Dr. Bjorn Heimdall tells the player that he believes Hyperborea was Iceland (and that it was colonized by aliens). Later, it is revealed Iceland was a colony of Atlantis.
Hyperboreans in Nazi Mysticism
Hyperboreans consistently play a large role in Nazi, neo-nazi, and proto-nazi mysticism.
Miguel Serrano was a Chilean diplomat and major proponent of Esoteric Hitlerism. He believed that Hitler fled to Shambhala, an underground centre in Antarctica after World War II (formerly at the North Pole and Tibet), where he was in contact with the Hyperborean gods and from whence he would someday emerge with a fleet of UFOs to lead the forces of light (the Hyperboreans, sometimes associated with Vril) over the forces of darkness (inevitably including, for Serrano, the Jews) in a last battle and inaugurating a Fourth Reich. He also connected the Aryans and their Hyperborean gods to the Sun and the Allies and the Jews to the Moon.
Julius Evola believed Hyperboreans were Nordic supermen, originating in the north pole. He felt they had a crucial hand in the founding of Atlantis.
See also : Greek Mythology. Paintings, Drawings
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