The Olympieion

This grandiose temple was many centuries in the building. It was originally planned by Peisistratus in the sixth century BC, on the site of the temple which legend ascribes to Deucalion, father of the new race of men, who raised it to Zeus in gratitude for deliverance from the great flood which subsided on this very spot and flowed into the adjacent river Ilissus. It was built in the Doric order and was of such colossal dimensions that it was compared with the Pyramids of Egypt and the public buildings erected by Polycrates of Samos. On the death of Peisistratus the work was continued by his sons but when Hippias was driven into exile (c. 510 BC) the project was abandoned.

In 174 BC, a devoted admirer of Athens, the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, resumed work on the building and entrusted the Roman architect Cossutius with its execution. Cossutius modified the orientation of the temple, enlarged the plan, substituted the Corinthian order for the Doric and enhanced its splendor by building in Pentelic marble instead of poros. When king Antiochus died a few years later, the work was again suspended, and though but half-completed its magnificence was such that the Roman historian Livy considered it as the sole temple on earth worthy of the majesty of the god. For another three hundred years work on the temple was discontinued, and during this long period much of the building was stolen. The temple was finally completed by the emperor Hadrian and dedicated to Zeus Olympius during the Panhellenic festival of AD 132.

The temple, which measured 97 m. in length by 40 m. in breadth, stood on a three stepped stylobate and could be compared in size only with the huge temples of Ephesus, Agrigentum and Selinonte. It was a dipteral octastyle containing triple tows of eight columns at both ends and double rows of twenty columns along the sides, making a total of one hundred and four Corinthian columns (those at the corners counted twice), each 17 m. in height.

The sekos, 75 m. in length by 19 m. in breadth, contained an enormous chryselephantine statue of Zeus (a copy of Pheidias' statue of the god at Olympia), excelled in size only by the colossi of Rhodes and Rome. By its side stood another huge gold and ivory statue of Hadrian, who was identified with Olympian Zeus and offered divine honors by the priests.

Hadrian enclosed the temple with a massive wall strengthened by buttresses. The temple was surrounded by the statues which the cities of the Greek world erected to Hadrian, their most lavish benefactor.

Inside the entrance, close to the north side of the precinct, are the ruins of several ancient houses. Here, too, are the bases of the four columns of a small propylon which served as a secondary entrance; the principal entrance, a splendid monumental portal, was probably on the west. The ruins of a basilica of three naves also lie near the propylon. Careful examination showed this basilica to have been built in the fifth century with material from the Olympieion, constituting further proof that the temple was destroyed, either by fire or earthquake, about this time. Following a diagonal line north-west from the propylon we come to the foundations of a second century Roman thermal establishment, where a portion of the black, white and rose-colored marble floor is of interest. Beyond the Roman thermae are the foundations of a house of the fourth century BC, marked by a cast of a fine relief discovered on the site.

In the Middle Ages the remains of the Olympieion were thought to be those of Hadrian's Palace, and in common with the Stadium it was used as a quarry. Of this immense forest of marble columns only sixteen have survived, fifteen of which are still standing: thirteen, with their architraves in a fair state of preservation, in a group at the southeast corner, and two others about 30 m. to the south west. The last column was blown down in the great storm of 1852 and the parts lie carefully assembled on the ground.

Let us now visit the Panathenaic Stadium. This structure can be reached directly by turning from the enclosure of the Olympieion into Leophoros Olgas and then continuing for a short distance along this avenue. On account of its former historical, archaeological and literary associations it was customary to follow a longer route by way of the Ilissus, but now that this immemorial river has been covered over the latter approach is of limited interest.

Those visitors still wishing to take the longer route to the Stadium must, on leaving the Olympieion, turn left into Leophoros Syngrou and then follow this avenue as far as Odhos Diakou which is the first street on our left after we pass the Arch of Hadrian.

In the middle of Odhos Diakou stands a small obelisk which commemorates eminent American Philhellenes of the Greek War of Independence. The upper part of the memorial is adorned with medallions inset with portraits sculptured in relief of four of them, while below, on the principal face of the monument, are the names of a further twenty-nine American champions of liberty.

A little farther along Odhos Diakou a bridge crosses the Ilissus. This is Callirrhoe Bridge from which we can see a shelf of rock lying upstream across the dried-up bed of the river; this is all that remains of the legendary Callirrhoe Spring.

Just beyond the end of the bridge we come to a crossroads. For the Stadium we must turn left at the traffic lights and follow the bank of the Ilissus, past the Tennis Club, the Olympic Swimming Pool, and the Ethnikos Athletic Club. A few minutes' walk brings us to the Panathenaic Stadium.

Among the best hotels of Athens are Philippos Hotel, Hera Hotel and Herodion Hotel.