6 March 2025 – Olympia Revisited

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 1,665

I’ve been to Olympia before.  I mentioned the other day that my ex-wife Yvonne & I had a holiday on Zakynthos way back in 1985.  While we were there we came over here on a day excursion, which, until this trip, was the one and only time I had previously ventured onto the Greek mainland.

There were a few things which were very familiar, but equally there was a lot which I had completely forgotten about in the intervening 40 years.  I do remember thinking at the time that a lot more could have been done to reconstruct some of the stone columns, so I was pleased to see that some effort has been made to do this in the intervening period.

We headed down to the main archeological site a little before 9am, just as the first couple of buses of students of several nationalities parked up.  Several more arrived shortly afterwards but I have to say we found it very easy to avoid the hordes and enjoy the site in relative peace and quiet.

On obtaining our freebie tickets and walking through the gates the first area we came across was the Gymnasium.  Built in the 2^nd Century BC it was 220 metres long and was used for training athletes in running and throwing events such as discus and javelin.

The Palaistra was a training area for wrestling and boxing and also jumping events.

Built in the 3^rd Century BC it was also used by philosophers, orators and poets to give lectures and performances.

These Greek Baths were first built in the 5^th Century BC and had a central swimming pool. 

They were modified over the subsequent centuries and also added to by the Romans during the first and second centuries AD.

The circular Philippeion is named after Phillip II.  He started construction in 338 BC but it was only completed after his death by his son, Alexander The Great.

The Temple of Hera is the oldest in the Sanctuary, dating all the way back to the 7^th Century BC.

This is the spot where the Olympic Torch is lit from the rays of the Sun and then carried around the globe to wherever the Olympics are being held, every 4 years.  It is thought that sporting tournaments were held at Olympia as long ago as 1100 BC but the Olympic Games were first recorded as being held here in 776 BC.  They were held every 4 years without a break until 393 AD.  A period of 1,169 years.

The Nymphaion is a Roman structure from the 2^nd Century AD.  It was a 2 storey building with fountains and niches containing statues of the Emperors and their families.

This is a prehistoric building dating to a period before 2000 BC.

The Metroon was a built in the 4^th Century BC as a Temple dedicated to the Mother of Gods, Rhea or Kybele.

These are a group of 12 small buildings from the 5^th and 6^th Centuries BC which are described as being Treasuries.

The Stadium with start and finish lines still intact and spaced 192 metres apart. It dates from the middle of the 5^th Century BC and could hold as many as 45,000 spectators.  Only men were allowed to watch the games and only men who were free born Greek and of free born Greek parentage were allowed to compete.  Competitors had to complete a mandatory month of training prior to the games, during which time their eligibility was checked.

This is the arched tunnel through which the athletes would enter the stadium.

These are Bases of Zanes.  Zanes is the plural of Zeus and bronze statues of the God stood on each stone base, paid for from the fines imposed on athletes who were deemed to have been caught cheating.

Zeus’ footprints where his statue once stood with an inscription below detailing the wrongdoings of the poor chap who had to pay for it.

The Votive Monument of Ptolemy II.  One of the columns has been restored with the assistance of the German Archaeological Institute.

Behind that you can see the remains of the “Echo Portico”.  So called because of its acclaimed acoustics.

Nero’s House was built on the remains of much older buildings.  It was a temporary residence for Emperor Nero when he participated in the games in 67 AD.

This triangular pillar was the base for the statue of the Goddess Nike by the famous sculptor Paeonios in the 5th Century BC.

The huge Doric Temple of Zeus was built in 470 BC but was destroyed by 2 earthquakes in the 6^th Century AD.  Most of its massive pillars are still lying on the ground.

Although one solitary pillar has been restored in celebration of the 2004 Olympic Games, which were held in Athens.

There is always a good deal of restoration work ongoing.

The Leonidaion was used to house and entertain officials at the games.  During Roman times it was adapted to include a central swimming pool.

The Theokoleon housed the sanctuary's Priests and other religious dignitaries including Aulets, whose job was to play flute during animal sacrifices in the temples.

Finally as we approached the exit there were 2 sets of baths dating from between the 5^th Century BC and the 2^nd Century AD.

Once we had done a thorough tour of the archeological site we took ourselves off to the museum of artifacts which have been found there.  I was really very impressed with the way everything was labelled so you could tell exactly whereabouts on the site each of the exhibits had come from.

These are earthenware pots reconstructed from fragments and which date back as far as the final Neolithic Period circa 4300BC.

This looks like some sort of chamber pot but its actually a “censer” used for smoking bees.

Grave goods from a chamber tomb dating circa 1300 BC.

Detail from a bronze Assyrian sheet dating from the 8^th Century BC.

A huge collection of model animals which were used in sacrificial ceremonies.

An 8^th Century BC bronze cauldron which would have originally had 5 bulls heads, only one of which sadly has survived.

A winged bronze female figure with inlaid bone eyes.  Believed to have originated from a workshop on one of the Ionion Islands circa 590 BC.

A huge lion’s head created by hammering bronze sheet. 

Large bronze griffin heads.

Corinthian helmets.  I can see where they got the idea for the ones the Mandalorians wear now.

Assorted pieces of forearm armour.

Painted terracotta sections from temple entrances.

A terracotta dolphin from the 5^th Century BC was probably used as a roof adornment.

Detail from a terracotta statue of Zeus and Ganymede

This is the statue of Nike which stood atop the triangular pillar we saw earlier.

These statues adorned the Western End of the Temple of Zeus and represent the Battle of Lapiths & Centaurs.  Basically the Olympus version of the Elgin Marbles, except no imperialistic blighters have nicked these and carted them off elsewhere.

Detail of some of the statues.

Some of the Roman statues which were excavated from the Nymphaion.

More Roman sculptures found in the Temple of Hera.

Glass vessels found in a cemetery dating from between the 1^st and 4^th centuries AD.

And finally the icing on the cake is the marble statue of Hermes of Praxiteles charged by Zeus to take the infant Dionysos to the Nymphs.

Time for a quick bite to eat.  Or at least that’s what we thought but once again I somehow managed to massively over order so we have had to bin our thoughts of going out to dinner again tonight.  I’ll make it up to Lisa when we are back on the coast and we can see what the catch of the day coming in from the boats is like.

Then we moved on to the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games which is housed in this impressive purpose built building from the 1880s.

I have to say I wasn’t as engaged by this museum as I was by the archeological one.  There were lots of interesting boards about how the games developed and various different aspects on how they were run but I could probably read all that online.  There were a few interesting artefacts but most of them were really not much more than a re-run of what we had seen earlier.

This did catch my eye though.  It’s a bowl depicting long distance runners and dating from circa 530 BC.  It was presented to Spyros Louis, who won the marathon race in the very first Olympics of the modern era in Athens, 1896.

On the left here is a bronze discus from the 5^th or 6^th century BC.  On the right is a stone “halter” from a similar period.  Athletes would hold the halters in their hands to give them greater momentum from a standing jump.

Detail from a large mosaic floor which is displayed under glass, showing wrestlers training.

A horse race painted onto a bowl circa 550 BC.

Other sporting events depicted on vases.

It’s fair to say we were feeling a little tired after all that lot.  So we’ve done very little with the rest of our day other than sitting in the warm sunshine, reading and, in my case, perusing the initial Glastonbury line up for the inevitable clashes between the artists I want to see.  It happens every year.

7 March 2025 - Nestor's Palace & Pylos