Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch

The Temple of Olympian Zeus is simply the largest temple in Greece. It was started in 6th century BC but not finished for another 650 years, and even then by the Roman emperor Hadrian, starting a tradition that Greece has maintained to this very day on not completing anything on time. Or even getting close. More about that in subsequent pages of this blog.

Sadly of 104 original columns only 15 remain standing to their height of 17 metres.  One toppled in  a storm in modern times and lies strewn along the site.The temple is/was 96m long and 40m wide, so an impressive scale.

You can't gt into it so on is left wandering around it. If in UK the place would be covered by information boards, but here there are almost none here. So one is just left to admire the scale, and there is something especially attractive about ruined pillars. These were much painted by artists in the 18th and 19th centuries for they are truly picturesque.

The acropolis is visible in the distance as background

 

  

The toppled column with Hadrian's Arch in the background.

 Below the temple are further ruins which are still being excavated and so one can only look down on them (and photograph them) but not visit.

Just outside the temple, on the street, is Hadrian's Arch. In a very decent state of preservation after nearly 2000 years.