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Coordinates: 37°58′9.74″N 23°43′59.08″E. The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Greek: Ναός του Ολυμπίου Διός, Naós tou Olympíou Diós), also known as the Olympieion or Columns of the Olympian Zeus, is a former colossal temple at the centre of the Greek capital, Athens.
Aug 18, 2015 · The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, also known as the Olympieion, was built over several centuries starting in 174 BCE and only finally completed by Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 CE. Its unusually tall columns and ambitious layout made the temple one of the largest ever built in the ancient world. The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens.
- Mark Cartwright
Map of the Peloponnese region of ancient Greece with Elis, Pisa, and Olympia (underlying map © Google) The people of Elis decided to build a new Temple of Zeus to celebrate their victory. They hired a local architect, Libon of Elis, to plan and build the structure.
- Early History
- Temple of Zeus
- The Olympic Games
- Decline
First inhabited in the second millennium BCE, the first archaeological record of dwellings dates from 1900 to 1600 BCE. The Kronion hill at the site was perhaps the first place of worship, dedicated to Kronos. However, other sacred buildings at the foot of the hill in the sacred grove of wild olive trees, or Altis, indicate other deities were worsh...
The first large building at the famous ancient sanctuary site was the Heraion, a temple dedicated to Hera built around 650-600 BCE. In the 5th century BCE the sanctuary reached its peak of prosperity, and the massive 6 x 13 column Temple of Zeus was completed in 457 BCE in order to house a huge ivory and gold statue of the leader of the Olympian go...
Sporting events were originally associated with funeral rituals, for example, the funeral games instigated by Achilles in honour of Patroklos in Homer's Iliad. Some mythological accounts credit Zeus with beginning the Games to celebrate his victory over Kronos; other accounts state Pelops began them in honour of Oinomaos. In any case, sport, a heal...
With Emperor Theodosios' decree to prohibit all cult practices and pagan festivals, the Games came to an end in 393 CE after a run of 293 Olympics over more than a millennium. The famous sanctuary site gradually fell into decline, was partially destroyed under the decree of emperor Theodosios II in 426 CE, and was taken over by a Christian communit...
- Mark Cartwright
The Temple of Zeus at Olympia was an ancient Greek temple in Olympia, Greece, dedicated to the god Zeus. The temple, built in the second quarter of the fifth century BC, was the very model of the fully developed classical Greek temple of the Doric order. [1]
The massive temple of Zeus, the most important building in the Altis, standing in its very centre, is the largest temple in the Peloponnese, considered by many to be the perfect example of Doric architecture. It was built by the Eleans from the spoils of the Triphylian war and dedicated to Zeus.
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The Olympeion was the largest ancient temple on the Greek mainland—a rectangular structure almost 100 metres long and nearly 50 metres wide. It was laid around 515 BC by Peisistratis the Younger on the foundations of a smaller temple.