File:The sanctuary of Olympian Zeus in Athens (2). 6th cent. B.C. – 2nd cent. A.D.jpg

English: The sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, one of the most important and ancient sanctuaries in Athens, was built according to tradition, by Deucalion, the first ancestor of the Greeks as a tribute to Zeus for his salvation after the deluge.

The erection of the large temple was begun by Peisistratos, grandson of the tyrant, in 515 B.C., on the site of an earlier archaic temple. Its construction had reached as far as the podium, when it was interrupted by the overthrow of the tyranny in 508 B.C. this temple, built of limestone in the Doric style, was huge and modeled on those of Asia Minor. Parts of the building materials were later used for the construction of the eastern side of the Themistoclean wall.

The temple was begun in marble probably in the 4th century B.C., but was never finished. After a long interlude, construction was resumed in 175 B.C., financed by Antioch IV Epiphanes, king of Syria with the Roman architect Cossutius, in Corinthian style. It reached as far as the capitals of the columns. Later it was continued by Augustus and completed by the emperor Hadrian, who also inaugurated it in 131-132 B.C.

The temple, one of the largest in the ancient world, had two rows of 20 columns on the sides (dipteron) and three rows of 8 columns at the ends (tripteron). It measured 110,35 m long by 43,68 m wide. It dominated the center of a large rectangular precinct wall which had a propylon on the north. The cella housed the oversized golden and ivory statue of Zeus and the statue of the emperor Hadrian, who were worshiped here as coequals; a great number of statues and votive offerings embellished the precinct.

Deterioration set in the 5th century A.D. and continued during the following centuries due to natural causes and human activities. There was an open-air mosque during the Turkish occupation at the SE corner of the precinct, and on top of the architrave at the SE corner of the temple some structure, perhaps a hermitage or lookout post. Of the original 104 columns of the temple sixteen survived until 1852. In that year one of them was toppled by a terrible storm and has been lying ever since.

Text credit: Inscription set at the archaeological site by the Ministry of Culture.