International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

OLYMPIUS

o-lim'-pi-us (Olumpios): An epithet of JUPITER or ZEUS (which see) from Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, where the gods held court presided over by Zeus. Antiochus Epiphanes, "who on God's altars dansed," insulted the Jewish religion by dedicating the temple of Jerusalem to Jupiter Olympius, 168 B.C. (2 Maccabees 6:2; 1 Maccabees 1:54;).