Athens - Temple of Olympian Zeus

Because it is a symbol of the time when Athens was oppressed by a Syrian king and a Roman emperor, the Temple of the Olympian Zeus - the largest temple in Greece - has always been something of a thorn in the flesh of the people of Attica. The Olympieion is still overshadowed by the Acropolis, although the quality of its construction is deserving of more attention.

The cella, which contained a statue of Hadrian as well as the cult image of Zeus, has disappeared, as have most of the 104 columns, to the making of which went no less than 15,500 tons of marble. The surviving remains, however - the group of 13 columns and part of the entablature at the southeast corner, two isolated columns on the south side and another column which collapsed in 1852 - are still of imposing grandeur. It is not certain whether the 13 southeast columns belong to the Hellenistic building and the three on the south side to the Roman one, or whether they are all of Roman date. The entrance to the site is on Leofóros Olgas. Near the entrance in the old defensive ditch of Athens, are a number of column drums from the Peisistratid temple. Farther west are the remains of Roman baths and other buildings.

Through the partly reconstructed propylon we enter the large rectangular temenos in which the temple lies. From the south wall of the temenos we can look down into an excavated area on a lower level in which, among other structures, the foundations of the temple of Apollo Delphinios and the large rectangle of the Penhellenion can be distinguished.

They are among the many temples and shrines on the banks of the Ilissos, which flows underground through this area; others include the temple of Aphrodite in the gardens on the right bank of the stream, the Metroon and the shrine of Artemis Agrotera on the left bank.

In Christian times a basilica was built here by the ancient Kallirhoe spring; mosaics are in the Byzantine Museum. A footpath leads along the eastern external wall of the Olympieion.