In Greek mythology, according to tradition, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived to the far north of Greece, near the Ural Mountains. Their land, called Hyperborea, or Hyperboria ("beyond the Boreas (north wind)"), was perfect, with the sun shining twenty-four hours a day. The Greeks thought that Boreas, the god of the north wind, lived in Thrace, and therefore Hyperborei was an unspecified nation in the northern parts of Europe and Asia. Alone among the Olympians, Apollo was venerated among the Hyperboreans: he spent his winter amongst them. For their part the Hyperboreans sent mysterious gifts, packed in straw that came first to Dodona and then were passed from people to people until they came to Apollo's temple on Delos (Pausanias). Theseus and Perseus also visited the Hyperboreans.

In Greek maps from the time of Alexander the Great, Hyperborea, shown variously as a peninsula or island, is located beyond France and has a greater latitudinal than longitudinal extent. Apparently Hyperborea is a combined notion of present day Britain and Norway/Sweden.

What is remarkable about Hyperborea is that it was one of several terrae incognitae to the Greeks and Romans, where Pliny and Herodotus, as well as Virgil and Cicero, reported that people lived to the age of one thousand and enjoyed lives of complete happiness. According to Herodotus (4.13) the Hyperboreans lived beyond the Arimaspians and were visited by Aristeas, who is said to have written a hexameter poem (now lost) dealing with them. Hesiod mentioned the Hyperboreans,

As with other legends of this sort, some details can be reconciled with modern knowledge. Above the Arctic Circle, from the time of the vernal equinox to the time of the autumnal equinox, the sun can shine for twenty four hours a day. At the North Pole, the Sun rises and sets only once a year - possibly leading to the erroneous conclusion that a "day" for such persons is a year long, and therefore that living a thousand days would be the same as living a thousand years.

Modern meaning

The term "Hyperborean" is used today to refer to any who live in a cold climate. For instance, under the Library of Congress classification system, the letter subclass PM includes "Hyperborean Languages", which refers to all the linguistically unrelated languages of peoples living in Arctic regions, such as the Inuit.

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, H.P. Lovecraft used the name in his mythology for his version of Atlantis.

Hellboy comics have made

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 an ancient version of Greenland during a warm habitable phase. His Hyperborea 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.

In the 1977 Ray Harryhausen classic fantasy film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Sinbad the sailor journeys to Hyperborea in search of a way to break the spell that has turned a prince into a baboon.

In the game Rome: Total War, Hyperboria is depicted as the land north of Scythia and Germania, having the town of Themiskyra owned by the Amazon Rebels. It is only accessible through a long march following a river, as the rest of the area is surrounded by dense forests. Amazons defend Themiskyra in chariots with support from Greek hoplite militia. There is approximately a 50/50 chance that the Scythian faction will have conquered Themiskyra by the time the player begins military conquest of the surrounding regions, if playing for one of the Roman factions.

Hyperborea is also an online text based game, called a MUD, started in 1993.

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.

Portions of this article were excerpted from the public domain Lempriere's Dictionary of 1848.

See also

Tangerine Dream - DiscographyThule (myth)