Media Release

For immediate release
March 3, 2006

Author, photographer, conservationist Edwin Bernbaum travels to sacred mountain sites at The Banff Centre March 13

Mountain Speakers’ Series: In the Footsteps of Zeus
Monday, March 13, 7:30 p.m., Max Bell Auditorium, The Banff Centre
Tickets: $8 at the door – Free for Mountain Culture members
For information: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301

In 2003, the National Geographic Expeditions Council sent Edwin Bernbaum and explorer-in-residence Johan Reinhard to Greece to explore the connections between the region’s sacred mountains and its ancient mythology. They climbed sacred peaks from Macedonia’s Mount Olympus to Mount Ida in Crete, tracing the path of the mythical god Zeus. On March 13, Bernbaum brings the research, stories, and images from that expedition to The Banff Centre for the latest Mountain Speakers’ Series presentation, called In the Footsteps of Zeus.

Mythology has had an immeasurable influence on the cultures of ancient and modern Greece. Its echo can be traced through the region’s archeology, history, architecture, and geography, descending from Zeus’ ancient seat on Olympus, and lingering in the ruins of mountainside temples. Bernbaum and Reinhard’s travels through the mountains, from the peak of Olympus known as the “Throne of Zeus” to the Byzantine monasteries that lead to the soaring Mount Athos on the Aegean Sea, brought together the threads of culture, spirituality, and history that make the region such an archeological treasure.

Author of Sacred Mountains of the World and The Way to Shambhala, Edwin Bernbaum is the director of the sacred mountains program at the Mountain Institute in Washington, a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation, community development, and cultural preservation in the world’s mountain ranges. He specializes in incorporating the cultural and spiritual significance of mountain places into their conservation, and has exhibited his photographs at the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History.

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Print-ready, downloadable image of In the Footsteps of Zeus

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