Olympia

Olympia is the site of the biggest temple to Zeus in Greece. The ruins of the temple are breathtaking. There was a terrible earthquake at some point that destroyed the temples and dormitories and other buildings. So, all of the columns that used to stand are now lying on the ground in pieces. It makes it easier to really judge the scale of the size of the columns when they are on the ground. You are allowed to touch them here and walk all around them.




The historical society here has restored a few of the columns so that visitors can tell what the place might have looked like in its full glory. There were also temples to Hera and a couple of other deities on this site as well. The museum on the site holds all the important reliefs that were rescued from the sites. The large statues from the pediments at both ends of the temple of Zeus are in the museum. It amazes me how much is left and the size of them. Although we could not touch them, we could get very close to them. I am not sure how long it took to carve them but they are such wonderful artistic examples on a large scale.



Olympia is also the site of the first games later termed the Olympics. The games were used as athletic competitions and as networking opportunities. Winners of the events were viewed as heroes in their towns when they came back and were able to have better careers afterward because of this fame. If you got caught cheating, however, your life was basically ruined. We visited the stadium where the competitions took place and a few of our number ran a race on the ancient field. I stayed at the finish line to take photos.



Now we are on our way to Delphi, home of the famous oracle of old. The site is also famous for the temple of Apollo. A professor from the Center for Hellenic Studies is was with us at Olympia and on the bus to Delphi giving us some great information about the area and the culture of ancient Greece and the sites we are visiting.

More from Delphi and beyond.