Olympia, Greece

The archaeological site showing the stadium, the temple of Hera, the temple of Zeus. The line of trees, upper right, border a road to the north of the Alfeios. Geologically the site is terraced into the gentle north slope of the Alfeios valley visible in the background.

Olympia among the main Greek sanctuaries

Peribolos wall remains seen in the foreground from the south against the backdrop of the Temple of Hera

Silver Tetradrachm from Olympia, 360 BC. Obverse: Head of Zeus wearing laurel wreath. Reverse: Head of the nymph Olympia wearing sphendone. ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑ to right.

Map of the first archaeological excavations in Olympia and of the temple of Olympian Zeus discovered by the expedition of Morea in May 1829 (by Abel Blouet and Pierre Achille Poirot)

Architectural model of the enclosure of the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece.

Small town in Elis on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, famous for the nearby archaeological site of the same name.

- Olympia, Greece

500 related topics

Ancient Olympic Games

The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece.

The palaestra of Olympia, a place devoted to the training of wrestlers and other athletes

The exedra reserved for the judges at Olympia on the south embankment of the stadium. Today, this is where the Olympic flame is passed on to the first torchbearer of the upcoming Olympic Games.

This model shows the site of Olympia, home of the ancient Olympic Games, as it looked around 100 BC. British Museum

Olympia over the ages. Areas of note: 2: Prytaneion, 4: Temple of Hera, 5: Pelopion, 10: Stadium, 15: Temple of Zeus, 20: Gymnasium, 21: Palaestra, 26: Greek Baths, 29: Leonidaion, 31: Bouleuterion

An artist's impression of ancient Olympia

The Discobolus is a copy of a Greek statue c. 5th century BC. It represents an ancient Olympic discus thrower

The Parthenon in Athens, one of the leading city-states of the ancient world

Three runners featured on an Attic black-figured Panathenaic prize amphora. 332–333 BC, British Museum

A section of the stone starting line at Olympia, which has a groove for each foot

Pankration scene: the pankriatiast on the right tries to gouge his opponent's eye; the umpire is about to strike him for this foul. Detail from an Attic red-figure kylix c. 490–480 BC, British Museum

A long-jumper holding halteres, Attic red-figure lekythos c. 470 to 460 BC

Ancient list of Olympic victors of the 75th to the 78th, and from the 81st to the 83rd Olympiads (480–468 BC, 456–448 BC)

The games were always held at Olympia rather than moving between different locations as is the practice with the modern Olympic Games.

Pelops

King of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region .

Pelops and Hippodamia racing in a bas-relief (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

"Throne of Pelops" at Yarıkkaya locality in Mount Sipylus

Pelops and Hippodamia; bas-relief, Metropolitan Museum of Art

He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the people of Peloponnesus, but for all Hellenes.

Alfeios

The Alfeiós or Alpheios (Αλφειός,, Latin Alpheus) is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Peloponnesus of Greece, and flowing to the northwest to the vicinity of Olympia, where it turns to the west and, after being impounded by the Flokas Dam, a hydroelectric facility, empties into the Gulf of Kyparissia of the Ionian Sea south of Pyrgos.

Stadium

Place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.

Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event at the ancient Greek Olympic festival was the race that comprised one length of the stadion at Olympia, where the word "stadium" originated.

Pisa, Greece

Pisa is a modern village situated 2.15 km to the east of Olympia, Greece.

Peloponnese

Peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece.

A map of the regions of the Peloponnese of classical antiquity.

A map of Byzantine Greece ca. 900 AD, with the themes and major settlements.

The Frankish castle of Clairmont (Chlemoutsi).

The court of the Byzantine despots in Mystras, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ethnographic map of the Peloponnese, 1890

The Venetian Lion of Saint Mark and halberds from the time of the Kingdom of the Morea in the National Historical Museum, Athens.

"Commander Panagiotis Kephalas plants the flag of liberty upon the walls of Tripolizza", Siege of Tripolitsa, by Peter von Hess.

The flag of the revolutionaries in the Peloponnese raised by the Kolokotronis family during 1821. Commonly associated with the Peloponnese region(unofficial).

The Battle of Navarino, on October 1827, marked the effective end of Ottoman rule in Greece.

Panoramic view of Nafplion, first capital of modern Greece

The Rio–Antirrio bridge, completed in 2004, links the western Peloponnese with mainland Greece.

View of the ancient Asclepeion in Messene

In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia, in the western Peloponnese and this date is sometimes used to denote the beginning of the classical period of Greek antiquity.

Hippodrome

Ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing.

Biga chariot rounding a terma: Attic black-figure amphora, circa 500 BC, found at Vulci

Olympia

Pausanias (geographer)

Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD. He is famous for his Description of Greece (Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις, Hellados Periegesis), a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from his firsthand observations.

Manuscript (1485), Description of Greece by Pausanias at the Laurentian Library

Image of a map from "Pausanias's Description of Greece. Translated with a commentary by J. G.Frazer."

Pausanias describes the religious art and architecture of many famous sacred sites such as Olympia and Delphi.

Elis

Historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece.

Here lie the ancient ruins of cities of Elis, Epitalion and Olympia, known for the ancient Olympic Games which started in 776 BC.

Temenos

Piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy grove, or holy precinct.

Another example is at Olympia, the temenos of Zeus.