Temple of Olympian Zeus

The majestic temple of Zeus was erected in the prominent spot of Altea, in the heart of the sanctuary of Olympia and it stood out for the size of the construction, its amazing, sculptured decoration and for the colossal statue of the god, as well, in the honour of whose the Olympic Games were held.

 It was an Ilians΄ dedication to Zeus and it took about twenty years for its completion, from 470 to 456 BC. It is the work of an Ilian architect, Livonas, and it belongs to the Doric style, of which it is considered as the norm, namely the model of standard.

The peripteral temple, constitutes of six columns on its narrow and thirteen on its long sides. It consists of a porch, a nave and a vestibule.

For the construction of the base and the load-bearing body, local conch stone was used, coated with a thin layer of mortar that gave the impression of marble. The sculptured decoration of the temple, the tiled roof, and the lion's heads - gutters were made of marble.

In its internal the temple had two rows of two-storied colonnades, placed near the walls of the nave. In this way, three aisles were created, with the central one being twice as wide as the lateral ones. The rich sculptural decoration of the temple, a prime example of the strict rhythm of the classical times, was saved and it is restored in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

The subject of the composition on the east pediment is the chariot race between Pelops and Oenomaus, with Zeus as the central figure. On the western pediment the sculptures narrate the conflict between Centaurs and Lapiths with Apollo as the central figure. On the metopes of the two narrow sides of the temple, the labors of Herakles, the mythical son of Zeus, are depicted in relief every six. The metopes of the temple occasion were unadorned.

However, the element that gave unsurpassed glamor and shine to the building was the cult statue of Zeus, placed at the bottom of the central nave of the temple. For this project, the Ilian priests of Alteos invited the sculptor Pheidias from Athens, who had gained great fame for having the general supervision of the reconstruction works of the Acropolis.

Phidias worked for about ten years in Olympia, after 438 to 430 BC.

Surpassing himself, he created a statue for the patron god of the sanctuary of Olympia, which amazed everyone, and it was considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. Even though the statue was not preserved, its detailed description, as well as the description of the entire sanctuary of Olympia was preserved by the wanderer Pausanias. The temple of Zeus, abandoned, collapsed after the strong earthquakes in 522 and 551 AD. On this monument of Olympia was focused the first excavation carried out in 1829 by the French scientific expedition which was later completed by the German Archaeological Institute. In the year 2005, the restoration of the Northwest column was completed.

Copyediting: Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia