Olympia

Plan of the sanctuary
The sanctuary was set on a vast plain – watered by two rivers, the Kladeos to the west and the Alpheios to the south – whose only elevation is the hill of Kronos to the north. At the beginning of the Archaic period, in the 8th century BC, the sanctuary kept the character it had acquired in the Geometric period: it was a small open area, surrounded by a low circular wall or fence, and contained few and modest buildings, such as the Pelopion, the tomb-shrine of Hippodameia and the ash altar of Olympian Zeus, believed to have existed since the 10th century BC (Swaddling, 1980: 14; Valavanis, 2004: 35 and 38; Yalouris, 2004: 95).
The greatest topographical changes were made around 700 BC, although very few architectural remains have survived from this period. During the 7th century BC some infrastructure works are thought to have been carried out, such as the bridge over the river Kladeos, giving access to the sanctuary from the west, and possibly a retaining barrier on the left bank of the river (Valavanis, 2004: 52).
By around 600 BC Olympia had already acquired Panhellenic importance (Berve; Gruben, 1963: 16). It was in this context that the Heraion – the next most important building – was erected in the Altis. Dated to 600 BC, its construction began the first great process of monumentalisation undertaken at Olympia during the 6th century BC, the period in which most of the treasuries and the political buildings, the bouleuterion and the prytaneion, were built (Bergquist, 1967: 40).
It was during the 5th century BC that the sanctuary of Olympia reached its greatest splendour and opulence. It was then that Olympia began to grow in importance and to be adorned with its first monumental buildings, erected gradually, such as the temple of Zeus. Some were connected with the cults, while others, indispensable, corresponded to the growth and various organisational and administrative needs of the sanctuary (Yalouris, 2004: 96). At this time the rites of sacrifice and athletic competition, connected with each other, were reflected in the distribution of buildings within the space of the sanctuary (Whitley, 2007: 305).
New buildings appeared at Olympia during the 4th century BC, when there was a change in the conception of the Olympic Games. From the 5th century BC, since the prize awarded at the great Panhellenic games was a simple crown, various cities began to honour the victors by offering them goods, money or exemptions, which could also be counted in money. Likewise, there were cases of athletes who received money from their opponents in exchange for letting them win. This process led to the professionalisation of athletics, very different from the athletics practised in the gymnasium. It is therefore in the context of professional athletics – which brought about a change in the spirit of competition and peaked in the 4th century BC – that we should study the new buildings erected in the sanctuary during this period. Particularly symptomatic of this period are the series of statues called Zanes, which stood in a row below the terrace of the treasuries, on the route from the temple of Hera to the stadium, where sixteen of their bases were found. Although none of the images has survived, the bases suggest that they represented a naked Zeus standing and holding the thunderbolt. According to Pausanias (V, I.XXI.2-3), the images were not dedications: they were made with the money from fines paid by cheating athletes who had dishonoured the games. Their position at the entrance to the stadium was read as a message against cheating and bribery. The oldest of them – six in number – were erected in 338 BC (Tomlinson, 1976: 63).
It is interesting to note that all the developments carried out at Olympia at this time separated cult space from athletic space (Whitley, 2007: 307). Most of the new buildings were neither temples nor treasuries, but stoai built along the eastern and southern edges of the sanctuary (Berve; Gruben, 1963: 25).
Indeed, recent excavations have shown that the embankment of the narrow western side of the stadium was truncated in the mid-4th century BC, when the Echo Stoa was built, definitively separating the stadium from the sanctuary. The stadium, which until then had been integrated into the sacred area, since the games had a purely religious meaning, changed not only its form but also its character, as it separated from the sanctuary and came to occupy the position where it lies today (Yalouris, 2004: 100; Whitley, 2007: 307).

Temple of Zeus
It is traditionally accepted that in the 5th century BC the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus dedicated for the first time, between 470 and 456 BC, a Doric temple and a great statue by the Athenian sculptor Pheidias to its main deity, whose cult had until then been performed at his great ash altar.
The temple of Zeus at Olympia was the largest ever built in a Panhellenic sanctuary and until the first half of the 5th century BC was the largest building in mainland Greece. A model for temples in mainland Greece – that of Poseidon at Isthmia and a group of Attic buildings of the second half of the 5th century BC, such as the Hephaisteion in the Athenian agora, the second temple of Poseidon at Sounion and that of Nemesis at Rhamnous – and for temples in western Greece – temple E3 at Selinous and that of Poseidon at Poseidonia – it was already recognised in antiquity as a canon of Doric temple architecture (Coulton, 1977: 113; Grupico, 2008: 207; Hellmann, 1998: 113-114; Holloway, 1973: 89; Tomlinson, 1995: 34; Valavanis, 2004: 72; Yalouris, 1995: 30; Younger; Rehak, 2009: 47).
The date of the temple, which was Doric, measured 27.68 x 64.12 m and had 6 x 13 columns, has been established on the basis of its architectural and sculptural style and of Pausanias' description (V,I.X.1-4). The Greek traveller says that the building was built by the Eleans from the spoils of a war against Pisa, an event that preceded the synoecism of Elis in 470 BC. The beginning of construction of the temple of Zeus is considered to have taken place in the context of the creation of the polis, when it was expanding its territory to include the district of Olympia, formerly part of the small city of Pisa, Elis's rival in the administration of the sanctuary (Tomlinson, 1995: 33-34). It is now accepted that work began after 470 BC and ended, presumably, around the time when Sparta – after defending Athens at Tanagra in 457 BC – dedicated a Nike as the central acroterion on the east pediment.
The sculptures of the metopes and pediments were equally important in establishing the temple's chronology, since they belong to the so-called Severe Style, traditionally defined as the art born of the Persian Wars that prevailed between 480 and 450 BC. Although this has been revised by specialists, it is still accepted that the style is characterised by features of Archaic art and by new tendencies that later resulted in the art of the Classical period (Amouretti; Ruzé, 1993: 166; Holloway, 1973: 95 and 99; Yalouris, 1995: 30).
Below we see images of reconstructions of what the temple looked like, made on the basis of the remains of parts of the building, such as columns, foundations, sculptures, tiles, gutters, etc. Among the sculptures is a photo of the statue of Apollo, the central figure of the west pediment of the temple, which depicted the Centauromachy, the mythical battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. The last figure shows the reconstruction of the east pediment of the temple of Zeus, whose sculptures depicted the Gigantomachy, the mythical war between the Giants and the Olympian gods that preceded the Titanomachy.
Twelve metopes (the space between the triglyphs in the Doric temple) have been found, depicting the Twelve Labours of Heracles. Metopes and pediments are now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.
The representation of the Centauromachy, the Gigantomachy and the Twelve Labours of Heracles on the temple of Zeus was not chosen by chance. These mythical episodes have aspects that directly concerned the public who frequented the sanctuary: the athletes and the aristocracy of the Greek cities to which they belonged.
Among these images, the drawing reconstructing the appearance of the statue of Olympian Zeus that stood inside the cella of the temple stands out. Around 454 BC – when the temple of Zeus had already been standing for almost thirty years – the Athenian sculptor Pheidias was called from Athens, after completing the statue of Athena Parthenos in 448 BC, to make the chryselephantine (gold and ivory) image of the god, which was probably installed in the temple in 430 BC (Berve; Gruben, 1963: 322; Dinsmoor, 1950: 153; Richter, 1966: 167; Valavanis, 2004: 94). Like the temple, the statue was described only by Strabo (8.3.30) and by Pausanias (V, I.X-1-4), whose description of the image is also the most complete. In the third part of his account of the temple, the Greek traveller details the position, clothing, sandals and throne of the statue and the materials from which it was made.
As for the dimensions of the statue, the excavations at Olympia were able to identify and measure only the pedestal of the throne, which measures 9.67 x 9.93 metres. R. Pfeiffer proposed some measurements for the statue on the basis of fragments of Callimachus' iambic poem – cited by Strabo and possibly an influence on Pausanias' description – which came to light between 1934 and 1940. Examination of the words of the best-preserved part, containing the measurements of height, indicated that the statue of Olympian Zeus reached 12.375 metres in height and the throne 9.90 metres in width (Pfeiffer, 1941: 4). The statue remained in the temple for about eight hundred years, during which it suffered various damage and repairs. Literary sources record that in the 5th century AD it was taken to Constantinople, where it was destroyed by fire.

South-east Roman baths
A large complex of the Imperial period (1st–3rd centuries AD), consisting of a central courtyard with colonnades, an open-air pool, three large corridors and small auxiliary rooms. The niches of the monumental façade were adorned with statues. The Roman baths were the meeting and training place for athletes in this period.

Philippeion
After the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Philip II built the Philippeion, which was later completed by his son, Alexander the Great. This building followed the circular model of construction (the tholos), which had previously had a religious character and was now used, for the first time, for the cult and memory of the deified Macedonian dynasty.

House of Nero
Built by Nero between AD 65 and 67, it was presumably designed to accommodate the emperor and his retinue on the occasion of the games. Its structure and plan follow the pattern of Roman villas in Italy. The complex comprises a large courtyard surrounded by colonnades and numerous rooms which in turn surrounded small courtyards. The so-called Octagon was the bath area.

Palaestra
The palaestra – used for wrestling, boxing and jumping – was built in the western part of the Altis, near the river Kladeos, which had been a training place for athletes from the outset (Yalouris, 2004: 107).

South Stoa
Around 300 BC the baths on the Kladeos were enlarged and the South Stoa was built, becoming the southern boundary of the sanctuary (Yalouris, 2004: 105-106).

Leonidaion
The Leonidaion was built around 330 BC south of Pheidias' workshop. This building served as a guest house for the most distinguished visitors and was named after its architect, Leonidas of Naxos (Yalouris, 2004: 107).

Nymphaeum
The nymphaeum was semicircular in shape, with two circular temples at each end; the walls were of fired brick faced with coloured marble. On the semicircular wall and in niches set into its façade there were 21 statues, of Antoninus Pius and his family, as well as of Herodes Atticus. Between the two small temples there were two reservoirs at different levels: one in front of the semicircular wall and another lower down. Water flowed into the upper semicircular reservoir, and from there into the lower rectangular one, and from there it was carried by a vast network of conduits that supplied the whole sanctuary at that time (Yalouris, 2004: 110).

Temple of Hera
The photo below shows the temple of Hera seen from the fallen columns of the temple of Zeus. The Heraion is the first peripteral temple and monumental building constructed in the Altis. Dated to 600 BC, its construction began the first great process of monumentalisation undertaken at Olympia during the 6th century BC, the period in which most of the treasuries and the political buildings, the bouleuterion and the prytaneion, were built (Bergquist, 1967: 40). Erected on the lower slopes of the hill of Kronos, where the altars of the oldest female deities worshipped at Olympia stood (Ge, Eileithyia, Aphrodite, Artemis and Hestia), its location suggests that the temple not only housed the cult of Hera but emphasised the importance of several female deities associated with the earth, fertility or the oracle (Valavanis, 2004: 54). The building measures 18.56 x 50.1 metres, had 6 x 16 columns and a cella divided into pronaos, naos and opisthodomos. It is considered one of the oldest examples of a temple of the Doric order.

Theokoleon
The Theokoleon – the building in which the priests of Olympia lived – and the Heroon – initially a bath building and during the Hellenistic period consecrated to an anonymous hero – were buildings of the second half of the 5th century BC (Valavanis, 2004: 99 and 107; Yalouris, 2004: 105).

Treasuries
Already at the time of the construction of the temple of Hera, the treasuries gradually began to be built in a row on a terrace at the foot of the hill of Kronos, forming the northern boundary of the sanctuary. At first they were probably used for cult purposes, but later they became stores for precious votive offerings and thus represented the authority and wealth of the poleis that built them. The treasuries of Sikyon (I) and Gela (XII), in their first phases, are the oldest, contemporary with the temple of Hera. Except for the treasuries of Syracuse and Byzantium, and of Gela and Sikyon in their second phases – built in the 5th century BC – all the others date from the 6th century BC, such as those of Epidamnos (IV), Sybaris (VI), Cyrene (VII), Selinous (IX), Metapontum (X) and Megara (XI). Pausanias mentions the names of ten buildings, but the excavations have located the ruins of fifteen treasuries, of which only five have been identified with certainty (Sikyon, Selinous, Metapontum, Megara and Gela) (Valavanis, 2004: 63; Yalouris, 2004: 97). The treasuries with the best-preserved architectural elements are those of Sikyon, Gela and Megara (Berve; Gruben, 1963: 323-326; Valavanis, 2004: 63).

The stadium underwent several remodellings over time. The oldest stadium seems to have been built in the initial phase of the development of the games, during the 7th century BC. Covering a levelled area 180 metres long east of the altar of Zeus, it was the first of its kind built in the history of civilisation and took its name from the basic measure of length in ancient Greece – the stadion – of about 600 feet, or 180 modern metres. Between 580 and 570 BC a new stadium was built with embankments 1 metre high for the spectators, replaced in 500 BC by others 3 metres high (Valavanis, 2004: 65). In the mid-5th century BC the stadium took on a new shape, being enlarged and moved east. Towards the end of the century its location was again shifted 82 metres east and 7 metres north (Yalouris, 2004: 100). The present appearance of the stadium (first photo) reflects the shape of the 4th-century BC stadium. Recent excavations have shown that the embankment of the narrow western side of the stadium was truncated in the mid-4th century BC, when the Echo Stoa was built, definitively separating the stadium from the sanctuary. The stadium, which until then had been integrated into the sacred area, since the games had a purely religious meaning, changed not only its form but also its character, as it separated from the sanctuary and came to occupy the position where it lies today (Pedley, 2005: 128; Yalouris, 2004: 100; Whitley, 2007: 307).

Roman gymnasium
The gymnasium of Olympia, built in the 2nd century BC, was where athletes practised javelin throwing, discus throwing and running. The palaestra beside the gymnasium can be seen in the background. This was an enclosed rectangular building (120 x 220 m) with a spacious courtyard in the centre and stoas on all four sides (Yalouris, 2004: 107).

Metroon
At the beginning of the century the Metroon, the temple of the Mother of the Gods, was built below the terrace of the treasuries, but of this Doric peripteral temple only the stylobate of 10.62 x 20.67 metres and parts of the stone entablature remain (Yalouris, 2004: 106).

Workshop of Pheidias
Associated with the making of the statue of Olympian Zeus, the so-called workshop of Pheidias seems to have been built ten years before the statue was dedicated in the temple of Zeus. Various kinds of material related to the making of the image were found there, and they are now regarded as irrefutable proof that the site housed the Athenian sculptor and his craftsmen (Valavanis, 2004: 97).
Emil Kunze's excavations in the workshop of Pheidias between 1954 and 1958 uncovered remains of ivory, obsidian, bone spatulas, goldsmiths' hammers, moulds for jewellery, remains of floral decoration made of glass and the clay moulds in which they were made, and numerous other moulds for making the drapery. The finds are still interpreted as those used to make the chryselephantine statue of Olympian Zeus made by Pheidias for the temple (Kyrieleis, 2001: 57).

Pelopion
On the north side of the propylon of the Classical Pelopion, in 1929, Dörpfeld discovered, at a depth of approximately 2 metres, a curved line of river stones which he interpreted as the enclosure of a very old great tumulus dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC (2600–2500 BC), that is, the Mycenaean period. The German archaeologist named the enormous tumulus Pelopion I, considering that it already formed part of the cenotaph of the hero Pelops. Extensive excavations in the area between 1987 and 1994 revealed that its original surface was formed of unworked stone slabs, and the pottery collected showed that the circular structure, 27 metres in diameter at its base, dates from Early Helladic II (2500 BC).

The bouleuterion and the prytaneion were also first built in the Archaic period: the former between 550 and 500 BC and the latter between 500 and 480 BC, at the transition between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The presence of these buildings at the site has given rise to much debate. According to Hansen and Fischer-Hansen, such buildings are the best kind of evidence for deciding whether a given community was a polis; and we know that Olympia never in its history became a polis, as happened with Delphi and Dodona. It is also notable that the sanctuary is the only place where the remains of both buildings of the Archaic and Classical periods have been found (Hansen; Fischer-Hansen, 1994: 86). Based on the information that all the laws and decrees of Elis from before the synoecism were found in the sanctuary, the two authors believe that the Eleans built their prytaneion first in the Altis and that their boulé – which previously met in the bouleuterion of Olympia – moved to that of the city of Elis after the synoecism of 471 BC (Hansen; Fischer-Hansen, 1994: 88). But the prevailing view is that administrative buildings were necessary given the scale of the festival. The prytaneion was the seat of the prytaneis, the officials of the sanctuary, and the bouleuterion served as the seat of the council of Elis, the body that decided all questions relating to the games and their organisation (Valavanis, 2004: 65; Yalouris, 2004: 100).

Zanes
The series of statues called Zanes stood in a row below the terrace of the treasuries, on the route from the temple of Hera to the stadium, where sixteen of their bases were found. Although none of the images has survived, the bases suggest that they represented a naked Zeus standing and holding the thunderbolt. According to Pausanias (V, I.XXI.2-3), the images were not dedications: they were made with the money from fines paid by cheating athletes who had dishonoured the games. Their position at the entrance to the stadium was read as a message against cheating and bribery. The oldest of them – six in number – were erected in 338 BC (Tomlinson, 1976: 63).

Mycenaean tumulus
On the north side of the propylon of the Classical Pelopion, in 1929, W. Dörpfeld (one of the great excavating archaeologists of Olympia) discovered, at a depth of approximately 2 metres, a curved line of river stones which he interpreted as the enclosure of a very old great tumulus dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC (2600–2500 BC), that is, the Mycenaean period. The structure is the oldest monument in the area of the sanctuary of Olympia, as well as the largest and oldest of all the tumuli known in southern and central mainland Greece. Since no trace of burial had been found in the tumulus, it was therefore thought that the structure had served for the cult of some unknown deity, perhaps connected with fertility. It is also likely that for the inhabitants of the subsequent village of apsidal houses the structure had a cult significance, as shown by an "altar" and a large shallow pit of ash with ritual remains on the east side of the tumulus.

Votive offering – Nike of Paionios
According to the inscription on its base, it was dedicated at Olympia after a victory in 420 BC of the people of Messenia and Naupaktos over the Spartans. The statue stood on a pedestal so as to occupy exactly the small angle of view between the north-west corner of the temple of Zeus and the south-west corner of the Heraion (Doxiadis, 1972: 74).

In the 7th century BC bronze cauldrons with protomes of lions and griffins – considered the successors of the tripods – were the main dedications of the period (Moustaka, 2002: 201).

Votive offerings of war
From the time of the construction of the first stadium in the mid-6th century BC, the display of helmets, shields and greaves with dedications to Olympian Zeus seems to have been a practice among spectators and participants in the games. According to M. Scott, the commemoration of military conflicts through the dedication of spoils of war (tropaia) was a regular feature of the sanctuary from at least the 8th century BC (Scott, 2010: 169).
The display of spoils of war at Olympia reflects another role of the sanctuary going back to its earliest periods. From that time the sanctuary of Olympia exercised a military competence by providing, through its oracle, solutions to pressing problems of war attested in the southern part of mainland Greece (Valavanis, 2004: 47). Literary testimonies, combined with finds of tropaia, suggest that long before the games the military aspect of Olympian Zeus was the primary element in the cult at Olympia, and that the oracular function associated with war was the reason for the prestige enjoyed by the sanctuary throughout the Greek world from the end of the 8th century BC.

Altar of Zeus and votive offerings
Between the Pelopion and the temple of Hera, the excavators of Olympia found an enormous layer of black earth made up of ash, animal bones and these small sculptures of animals and male human figures. This layer attests the continuity of cult from the Mycenaean period to the Iron Age at Olympia. According to the prevailing view, it is a fill of residues of ritual acts made during the development and levelling of the area of the sanctuary of Olympia in the Geometric period (900–750 BC). Some authors attribute the ash and the material found in the black earth to the great altar of Zeus.
Among the images below, the reconstruction of the altar of Zeus – so called because it was made of the ashes of animals sacrificed over time – stands out, as do the male terracotta figurines, regarded as representations of Zeus, the evidence attesting the beginning of the cult of Zeus at Olympia in the 10th century BC.

Hippodrome
The introduction of the chariot race in 680 BC indicates that the first hippodrome in history was created at that date (Berve; Gruben, 1963: 326; Valavanis, 2004: 53). However, although specialists place it south of the stadium, all traces of the construction disappeared when the river Alpheios changed its course during the Middle Ages (Berve; Gruben, 1963: 17).

Echo Stoa
The Echo Stoa, so called because sounds echoed seven times in succession inside it, was also known as the Poikile ("Painted") because of the frescoes that adorned its interior. It was built shortly after 350 BC and had two colonnades, the outer one in the Doric style and the inner one probably Corinthian, with rooms inside (Yalouris, 2004: 106).

Excavations
Before the first systematic German excavations, the site of Olympia went through several stages after its discovery. Lost in the Middle Ages under metres of river sediment, the sanctuary was identified only in 1766 by the English traveller Richard Chandler, and the following year, in 1767, the founder of the science of archaeology, J.J. Winckelmann, expressed the wish to excavate the site. But the first archaeological excavations were carried out in 1829 by the Expédition Scientifique de Morée, considered the pioneer of the modern exploration of Olympia, whose work focused mainly on the ruins of the temple of Zeus (Kyrieleis, 2001: 47-48).
However, the first thorough and complete investigation of the Altis took place only half a century after its discovery, becoming possible after long political and diplomatic negotiations. These excavations, from 1875 onwards, for many reasons and in various ways, served as a model for Classical archaeology in Greece. For the first time a contract – in this case the one signed in 1874 by the Greek and German governments – provided that all finds from the excavations at Olympia should remain in Greece, while the German side acquired the right to undertake the academic publication of the finds and the results of the excavations. It was left to the Greek side to decide whether certain duplicate finds should be given to the excavator. These principles, formulated for the first time in the Olympia contract, still form the basis for the work of foreign institutes in Greece and the Mediterranean countries. The new role played by archaeological and historical research in the political rivalry between the nations of Europe is attested by the fact that the German Parliament approved significant sums of money for the excavations at Olympia even though the finds remained in Greece. It was for this reason that the German chancellor, Bismarck, initially opposed the contract. Only in 1887, after the release of a number of authentic artefacts donated to the collection of the Berlin Museum, did the chancellor accept the idea (Kyrieleis, 2001: 48).
The first and decisive period of excavation at Olympia took place between 1875 and 1881. During six excavation seasons, thanks to the work of Gustav Hirschfeld, Adolf Bötticher, Georg Treu, Wilhelm Dörpfeld and Adolf Furtwängler under the general direction of Ernst Curtius and Friedrich Adler, most of the ruins of Olympia came to light together with an immense collection of inscriptions, sculptures and dedications of all kinds, which allowed a completely new view of the history and importance of the sanctuary and shed new light on hitherto unknown spheres of Greek art (Kyrieleis, 2001: 49). The great influence on the development of archaeology exerted by the excavations and finds of Olympia in their time is due mainly to the fact that the results of the work were published quickly and with great precision.
The initial exploration of the Altis had at its disposal the text of Pausanias, which contains a detailed description of the monuments of Olympia and therefore served as a precious guide for the excavators in identifying various buildings and monuments: the archaeologists literally conducted their excavations with Pausanias in hand. It is assumed that without the periegete's meticulous account it would be impossible today to know most of the buildings and works of art of the sanctuary (Kyrieleis, 2001: 49).
Excavations at Olympia remain in the hands of the German Institute to this day.
The photos below show the meticulousness of archaeological fieldwork. The trenches reveal built structures once hidden in the ground. They also show the state in which the archaeological object reaches the archaeologist – usually incomplete, half-destroyed, misshapen. In the context of a sanctuary like Olympia, the destruction may sometimes have been intentional, caused by ancient people rather than by the passing of centuries. In Greek sanctuaries it is common to find votive offerings damaged in order to make them unusable for reuse, thus preserving them forever as a gift to the deity.

Photos from Lilian's collection.