Olympieion

The Olympieion, also known as the Temple of Olympian Zeus, is one of the most impressive architectural sites of antiquity and lies about 500 meters southeast of the Acropolis in Athens. Construction began in the 6th century B.C. under the tyrant Peisistratos and his sons, but it was left unfinished after their fall. Various rulers, including the Seleucid king Antiochus IV and later Emperor Augustus, made efforts to continue the project, but it was not until the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century A.D. that the temple was completed according to the original plan and dedicated. The complex was one of the largest temples in ancient Greece and was devoted to the god Zeus.

Architecturally, the ruin today is shaped above all by the Hellenistic design that was realized under Hadrian. Instead of the Doric columns originally planned, Corinthian columns of Pentelic marble, roughly 17 meters (about 56 feet) tall, were erected. Fifteen of these columns still stand upright today and testify to the temple's former monumentality. The temple had eight columns across the short sides and twenty along the long sides. The Corinthian capitals are skillfully crafted from two parts, and the entablature displayed typical Ionic features. The structure rose on a high marble platform.

Today, visitors come to the ruins to imagine the enormous scale of the building. The remaining rows of columns and the carefully worked details of the capitals offer an impressive glimpse into ancient building techniques. Although the exact time of the destruction is unclear, an earthquake in the Middle Ages is thought to have been the cause. Afterward, the stones were used as building material for other projects. Since the excavations of the 19th century, the site has been an important archaeological find, documenting the complex history of Athens and the connection between Greek and Roman culture.