What Is The Temple Of Zeus?

The Temple of Olympian Zeus is a former gigantic temple at the centre of the Greek capital, Athens. It is also known as the Olympieion or Columns of the Olympian Zeus. It was dedicated to Zeus, as he was the head of the Olympian gods.

The Athenians started with the construction of the temple in the 6^th century BC, but it was only completed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2^nd century AD. During this time the temple, which included 104 colossal columns, was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.

The temple fell into disuse after the barbarian invasion in 267 AD. It was destroyed by them and fell into ruin. In the centuries that followed its was quarried for building materials to other places in the city.

However, a significant part of the temple remains today, including sixteen of the original gigantic columns, and it is still part of an important archaeological site in Greece.

History

The temple is located just south of the centre of Athens and south-east of the Acropolis. An earlier temple stood there built by Peisistratus around 550 BC which was destroyed. The construction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus began in 52 BC by his sons, Hippias and Hipparchos. They wanted to build a temple bigger than the Heraion of Samos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. It was designed by the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides and Phormos.

Only the platform and some of the columns were completed by the time Hippias was expelled in 510 BC and it remains like that for 336 years.

In 174 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes restarted the project and the Roman architect Decimus Cossetius was placed in charge. The original design was changed, but the project was again brought to a stop in 164 BC, being only half finished, with Antoichus’s death.

During Augustus’ reign there was an attempt to complete the temple, but this only finally happened under the rule of Hadrian in the 2^nd century AD. A walled marble-paved precinct was constructed around the temple, making it a central focus of the ancient city. The temple and the surrounding area were decorated with numerous statues portraying Hadrian, the gods, and representations of the Roman provinces. A colossal statue of Hadrian was raised behind the building while the colossal chryselephantine statue of Zeus occupied the cella of the temple.

The Temple was severely damaged during the fall of Athens in 267 AD and probably never repaired, especially after the Christian Emperor Theodosius II prohibited the worship of the Roman and Greek gods in 425 AD.

By the end of the Byzantine period, the temple was almost destroyed as it was quarried to provide building material for houses and churches. In 1436 when Ciriaco de’ Pizzicolli visited Athens only 21 of the original 104 columns were still standing.

Today, fifteen columns remain standing while a sixteenth lies on the ground where it fell during a storm in 1852. Nothing remains of the cella or the great statue that it once housed.

Archaeological Remains

The French began excavations at the temple in 1829. In 1889-1896 Francis Penrose of the British School in Athens worked at the temple and in 1922 it was the German archaeologist Gabriel Welter. In the 1960s the Greek archaeologists led by Ioannes Travlos took over the site.

The temple, along with the surrounding ruins of other ancient structures, is a historical precinct administered by Ephorate of Antiquities of the Greek Interior Ministry.

The massive temple of Zeus is the largest temple in the Peloponnese and the perfect example of Doric architecture.

The temple, a peripteral hexastyle, has thirteen columns at the sides, each 10.43 metres high and 2.25 metres in diameter at the base. They were made of local shell-limestone, covered with white stucco. Only the pedimental sculptures, roof tiles and lion’s head waterspouts were of marble. The temple consists of a pronaos, cella and opisthodomos.

At the far end of the cella stood the statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The statue, over twelve metres high, portrayed Zeus enthroned, holding a sceptre in his left hand and a winged Victory in his right. The undraped parts of the statue were of ivory, while the robe and throne were of gold. After the abolition of the Olympic Games, the statue was carried off to Constantinople where it perished in a fire c. AD 475.

Parts of the sculptural decoration have been restored and are now on display in the Olympia Archaeological Museum, while the metopes removed by the French expedition of 1829 are in the Louvre.

Interest For Today

The historical site is protected and supervised by the Ephorate of Antiquities. Today, the temple is an open-air museum, part of the unification of the archaeological sites of Athens.

On June 28, 2001, Vangelis organized the Mythodea Chorus at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in the support of NASA’s Mars mission.

Location

The Temple of Zeus is in Athens, Greece, at the coordinates 37°58′9.74N 23°43’59.08′E

Address: Ancient Olympia, Olympia (Prefecture of Ilia).

Tourist Information

The Temple of Zeus is open every day from 08:00 to 15:00.

Tickets are €12 for adults and €6 for children.

Tickets are valid for one day for:

• The Archaeological Site of Olympia.
• Archaeological Museum of Olympia.
• Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of Antiquity.
• Museum of the History of the Excavations in Olympia.

During the period November 1st – March 31st, the price of the single ticket for all the above-mentioned sites is reduced by 50% for all visitors to €6.

Contact details:

• Telephone: +30 26240 22517
• Fax: +30 26240 22529