Olympia - Greece - The Olympic Games’s birthplace Best Travel sites, Full tourist guide]

[Music] ancient Olympia is located at the West End of the pelones peninsula in the midst of a fertile plane between the rivers alpaos and cados Olympia is one of the sites that should be included in any itinerary of Greek sightseeing it's one of the easiest archaeological sites to visit since it has fairly level wide paths to walk through Laboratories and plenty of shade under the many trees the site of Olympia has been inhabited since prehistoric times in the 10th Century BC Olympia became a center for the worship of zus the gymnasium was erected in the 2 centur BC a little later in the 1st Century BC a Monumental and piiper style propylon of the Corinthian order was added at the southeast corner the gymnasium comprised an enormous open air Court bordered by four dor colonal sters the athletes trained in the open air court for the running races The discus throw in the javelin the E stoer is the so-called sisters the covered colonade equal to the stadium in length where the runners trained when the weather was unsuitable to date half of the gymnasium has been [Music] explored in the western part of the sanctuary north of the Fon are the athletic installations the palra and the [Music] gymnasium the palra dated to the 3rd Century BC is a large Square building with a Central Court with Doric peristyle enclosed by sters with many rooms around them such as the room where the athletes oil their bodies before exercising the conion where they powdered themselves and dressing [Music] rooms the Central Court was where the athletes practice wrestling boxing the pantian and jumping 32 of the original 72 Columns of the peristyle cord have been restored the Greek Doric column has no base its massive shaft generally treated with 20 flutes terminates in a simple Capital composed of a group of annulets a projecting curved molding called the echinus and a square slab or Abacus at the top the substantial Square building covered over 4,400 s m and enclosed a large peristyle Courtyard although nothing remains of the brick superstructure and tiled roof of the building its General layad can be deduced from the surviving Columns of the parisle the courtyard itself was large and mostly [Music] unpaved in the gymnasium there were cold water washing rooms sweating rooms and a room for oiling the [Music] body the philipon was erected near the West Wall of the altars in 338 BC the circular Monument was commissioned by Philip II of Macedon in celebration of both athletic and military victories it was made by the Athenian sculptor leoz in celebration of Philip's victory at the Battle of cherona in 338 BC the philippon stood on a marble base 15.3 m in diameter and was comprised of 18 ionic [Music] columns at Olympia the ponan was where the priests and magistrates lived the high priest lived in [Music] Theon east of the philipon is the her on a Temple dedicated to the goddess Hera by the inhabitants of skilos who are allies of the pons initially it was Z who was woried here the temple is one of the earliest examples of monumental Temple Construction in Greece and can be dated to around 600 [Music] BC it's at the D order with six columns along the narrow ends and 16 along the sides a peripteral hexa style The Columns 5.21 m in height were originally of wood but these were gradually replaced by stone columns when panus visited Olympia in 170 BC there was still one wooden column standing in the apodus of the temple thein is a semicircular marble tank that held Olympia's water [Music] supply it's a public Fountain built during Roman times by Herodotus Atticus this is the Monumental Spring Water System dedicated to the temple by the benefactor Herodotus atus and his wife [Music] regilla in Olympia there are the remains of all the sports structures erected for the Olympic Games which were held in Olympia every 4 years beginning in 7 76 [Music] BC the first major excavation of Olympia began in 1875 funded by the German government excavation was continued in a more limited way between 1908 and 1929 the echo Stow separates a sacred Precinct from the stadium the enclosure wall was extended in Roman times and two Monumental entrances were created on its western side the entrance to the stadium where the Olympic Games took place was as it is today through the Crypt the hidden entrance which is built in helenistic times in the 3rd Century BC this is a Ved passageway with a Corinthian propylon at the Western end that was added in Roman times Olympia is the birthplace of the Olympic Games which started on these very grounds in the year 776 BC the first Olympia took place at the sanctuary of Zas and was repeated every four years for centuries there after the date of the first Olympic Games 776 BC is the first accurate chronology of historical Greece there are a few Stone stands for the helodes literally the judges of the [Music] Helens here we see the marble starting block which breaks the flat monotony of the stadium Preserve today are only the stone crepus and fragments of the ionic columns bases found along the length of the facade show that other dedications too were placed in front of the stoer here are some building remains of the stoer and part of an ironic column from the Monument of TMI II and Aro south of the petarian is the South sto it was built around 350 BC and was the main entrance to the Altus it has an outer colonade of 34 Doric columns and an interior colonade in the Corinthian order this is the first monument at Olympia in which the Corinthian order was used a Monumental propon on the south facade gives the building a t-shaped plan the West part of the building has yet to be [Music] explored the most ornate of the three main orders of classical Greek architecture characterized by a slender fluted column having an ornate bell-shaped Capital decorated with the canvas sleaves the boletarian was the seat of The Bu of the alans and the heleni whose task it was to oversee the running of the games here too We examined the objections and violations of the athletes and here the penalties were decided [Music] the enormous Temple of Zas stood in a conspicuous place at the center of the Altus it was erected from The Spoils of battles won by the alans during the trifan wars its construction began in 470 BC and was completed in 456 BC with libon the Alan as architect The Columns were of local shell Limestone covered with white stucco in the center of the sanctuary the remains of the imposing Temple of Zas anchor the surrounding landscape with the Monumental building foundation and the scattered massive columns which once protected the golden Ivory statue made by [Music] fidas the temple a periperal hexa style with 13 columns at the sides has an East West orientation the hexastyle temple was constructed of local Limestone and coated with stucco its Dimensions stretched more or less 60x 27 M with six columns at each end and 13 columns along each side excavations at the temple were begun by the French in 1829 and were completed by the German School parts of the sculptural decoration have been restored and are now on display in the Olympia archaological Museum while the metopes removed by the French expedition of 1829 are in the Lou The Columns were 10 m high and slightly tapered measuring more or less 2 m in diameter at the base and 1.6 m in diameter at the top the Leon was a large hostel for distinguished visitors built around 330 BC it was named after the donor and architect the unidus of Nexus it's a large almost Square building with an ionic exterior colonade of 138 [Music] columns on all four sides there are rooms between the two colonades in Roman times a decorative pool occupied the center of the inner Court of Leon because its's location this is known as the Leon on baths over the ruins of the workshop a three Christian Basilica was built between AD 435 and AD 451 the ABS of the church was at the East stand where the entrance to the workshop had once been the marble screen is still preserved in situ the entrance to the church is in the south side of the narx the floor of which was paved with marble slabs the wooden roofed basilic gr of Olympia the oldest known early Christian Church of Ellis was destroyed in the earthquake of AD 551 of the workshop only the orthostats of the walls remain both the superstructure and interior of the building belong to the church Olympia lies amongst low wooded Hills and near Two Rivers the alfus and clavas which have changed their [Music] course ancient Olympia is situated in an area of great natural beauty it's considered one of the most important sanctuaries in Antiquity and is dedicated to the father of all gods C Us in 1989 the archaeological site of Olympia was inscribed by the world heritage committee