Category:Achaean monument at Olympia

English: Best seen in a close-up of the aerial view, the monument is located at the foot of the east stairway, on the south, of the temple of Zeus. It merges into the space of the base of the statue of Nike Paionos. Called by some a dedicatory monument of the Achaean League, it was not dedicated to anyone or anything. Instead, it was a triumph of bronze statuary depicting a scene from the Iliad, where Nestor throws lots to see which of several Greek heros would take on Hector man-to-man. The main statue base was the arc of a circle on which eight statues, the candidates, were placed. It is believed that the Riace bronzes, recovered from a sunken ship, are two of them. At the center of the circle is another pedestal on which the statue of Nestor stood. Pausanias claims that the procession of athletes on the way to the stadium passed through this monument and possibly received lots cast to determine their accidental position in the games, such as an inside or outside track.