Pindos isn't just a single mountain range; it's a complex comprised of several mountain complexes.
Among these are North Pindos, the Athamanian Mountains, central Pindos, Agrafa, Evritania, Panetoliko, and the block of Giona-Iti-Vardousia.
But Pindos isn't just a mountain complex - it's also home to natural wonders, including geomorphs, waterfalls, and lakes. And if this is not enough, there are also plenty of human achievements to discover, such as stone-built paths, arched bridges, and dozens of settlements.
The Pindos mountain range runs for over 300 km in a north-west-south-east direction, crossing the Greek mainland. It is a continuation of the Dinaric Alps that dominate the western zone of the Balkan Peninsula. The range can be defined as spanning from the plateau of Korytsa in south-eastern Albania to the Gulf of Corinth in the south.
This endless complex of mountains, peaks, highlands, valleys and gorges boasts over 2000 peaks, the highest of which stands at 2637 metres.
Geologically, Greece is divided into geotectonic zones, which are called Hellenides. As shown in the map below, these zones are elongated, with a northwest-southeast-southeast direction. The Pindos mountain range consists, from east to west, of the Sub-Pelagonian zone, the Parnassus-Gionas zone, the Olonou-Pindos zone, the Gavrovos-Tripoli zone and the Ionian zone.
The Sub-Pelagonian zone is the western zone of the ophiolites of Greece and, together with the Pindos zone, represented an old oceanic region, part of the Neo-Tethys Sea, which existed during the Mesozoic (256 to 66 million years ago).
The Olonou-Pindus belt was a purely oceanic area, with deep-sea shale-keratolitic sediments, and together with the Sub-Pelagic and other belts, they constitute the Inner Hellenides.
The Outer Hellenides zones of Gavrovo-Tripoli, Adriatic-Ionian (Ionian), etc. are part of the Apulian microplate, which broke away from the Gondwana and moved north to converge and collide with Eurasia, creating the Alpine, Dinaric and Pindus mountain ranges (Alpine orogeny). Thus these zones represent areas of continuous platform-type (0-200 m deep), mainly calcareous, island-type sedimentation, which were received during the movement of the Apulian plate during the Mesozoic-Tritogenesis (256 to 16 million years ago).
The emergence of the above zones occurred in the following order:
the Sub-Pelagonian and the Parnassus-Gionas emerged in the Upper Eocene (40 million years ago)
Pindos emerged in the Lower Oligocene (30 million years ago)
Gavrovo-Tripoli in the Upper Oligocene (25 million years ago)
the Adriatic-ionians in the Lower Miocene (20 million years ago)
Read more from the department of Geology of Auth here.
The mountain range of Pindos is defined by its vast network of rivers. Pindos feeds and nourishes major rivers like Mornos, Aoos, Sarantaporos, Evinos, Aliakmon, Arachthos, Pinios, Acheloos, Sperchios, and the Boeotian Kifissos. Even lesser-known rivers like Kalamas and Louros owe their existence to the mountains of Pindos. These rivers are a testament to the grandeur and character of the mountain range, shaping the landscape and sustaining life in the region.
Pindus, a name frequently mentioned by ancient Greek poets and historians such as Aeschylus, Pindar, Sophocles, Herodotus and Xenophon, took the geographical form that we now recognize during the Greco-Roman period, according to Strabo.
The name "Pindos" has its roots in pre-Hellenic language, specifically from a Pelasgian origin. The suffix "-indos" was commonly used to describe names of Mediterranean plants, such as "kindos" and "lindos." It's likely that "Pindos" was originally used as a surname to accompany other names and gradually became essentialized over time.
Modern geographers commonly refer to the mountain system as Pindos, however, they often identify its northernmost extension as Mount Gramos located on the Greek-Albanian border. This differs from its geological boundaries which are situated on the Korytsa plateau.
Source: Mountrakis 2010