Olympieion (The temple of Olympian Zeus) by junge1

Photography • Historical • posted on Jul 23, 2013

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Description

The temple of Olympian Zeus, the largest of the ancient temples of Athens, stands on a low elevation in the ground to the south-east of the Acropolis.Traces of human settlement on this site date from as early as the prehistoric period. Worship of Zeus in the area of the Olympieion is attested from early historical times, and there was a temple here already in the early 6th century BC. During the period of the tyranny, in 515 BC, Peisistratos the Younger, grandson of the famous Peisistratos, endeavored to replace this early temple with a new one of large dimensions, on the model of those in Asia Minor. Construction had reached the level of the crepis when the tyranny at Athens was overthrown. The Athenians refused to continue with the building of it, so that the democracy should not bring to completion a work that, although brilliant, was a reminder of the hated tyranny. In 174 BC, the King of Syria, Antiochos IV Epiphanes, continued the work, with Cossutius, a Roman, as his architect. The level of the entablature was reached before work came to a halt in 163 BC. on the death of Antiochos. After his stay in Athens in AD 124-125, the emperor Hadrian decided to finish the temple, and it was inaugurated in AD 131. This temple was one of the largest in the ancient world, and stood in a large open space measuring 250 m x 130 m; it was 110.35 m long and 43.68 m wide, and is in the Corinthian order. There were two rows of 20 columns on the sides and three rows of 8 columns on the ends, giving a total of 104 columns, which were 17.25 m high, with a base diameter of 1.70 m. Only 16 are now preserved, 13 at the south-east corner and 3 near the south-west corner; the middle one of these last fell after a storm in 1852 and now lies on the ground. The cella housed a chryselephantine statue of Zeus and a statue of Hadrian, who was honored jointly with the god. A rectangular poros enclosure wall measuring 205.85 m x 128.72 m was constructed and buttressed with built pillars. Entrance to the enclosure was by a small propylon on the north side (Source: Official pamphlet). This picture was taken on 26 June 2013, Sig..