The rambling ruins of ancient Olympos are scattered beside the trickling Ulupınar Stream and set inside a deep shaded valley that runs directly to the sea. Olympos devoutly worshipped Hephaestus (Vulcan), the god of fire, which may have been inspired by the Chimaera, an eternal flame that still burns from the ground not far from the city.
Olympos went into decline in the 1st century BC. The arrival of the Romans at the end of the 1st century AD, brought about the city's rejuvenation but pirate attacks during the 3rd century caused the city's importance to wane. In the Middle Ages the Venetians and Genoese built fortresses along the coast but by the 15th century the site had been abandoned.
