The Thrasyllos Monument in Athens

The rock on which the Athenian Acropolis has been built holds several caves that were used in antiquity as sanctuaries. Early settlers were attracted by the clean water from its hidden natural sources. Some of these caves led very far inside but most were rather small. Over time, some of these spaces were turned into sanctuaries. 

The most striking example is the Thrasyllos Monument, a temple inside a large cave on the south slope of the Acropolis. It was created around 320 BC by Thrasyllos, a judge in the Great Dionysia Festival. His son, Thrasykles, modified the monument in 270 BC.

Few people know that its façade was an almost exact copy of the west façade of the south wing of the Propylaea on the Acropolis above. It has two door openings with pilasters and a central pillar, crowned with a Doric architrave displaying a continuous row of guttae, a frieze, and a cornice. The frieze depicts five olive wreaths on either side of the central ivy wreath. The three columns above the cornice supported the bronze choragic tripods. Pausanias tells us that the cave held a representation of Apollo and Artemis killing the children of Niobe. 

Paintings inside the cave referred to a marble statue of Dionysus probably added to the top of the monument in the 4^th century AD. It was removed in 1802 by Lord Elgin, who took it to the British Museum in London. 

Under Ottoman rule, a small chapel was built inside the cave known as the Virgin Mary of the Cave. It was used by the Athenians who came to pray for the health of their sick children. The chapel was decorated with Biblical frescos, and a marble icon of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, recently restored. 

Most of the marble entrance collapsed in 1827 during the Ottoman siege and bombardment of the Acropolis. As so often, the stone material was reused elsewhere in the city and, in particular, for the restoration of the Byzantine Church of Panaghia Sotiras tou Nikodimou. 

[Reconstruction drawing by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett]

The restoration of the Thrasyllos Monument started in 2011 assisted by archaeologists of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. We have to thank the English architects James Stuart and Nicholas Revett for having left us so many drawings of what they witnessed in 18th-century Athens. Their work was of great help to reconstruct the Thrasyllos Monument and provided a clear copy of the original Greek inscriptions. 

This impressive Choragic Monument was meant to be seen by all of ancient Athens. Today, it is an eye-catcher overlooking the Theater of Dionysus. The Monument is clearly visible from the terrace of the New Acropolis Museum as seen in my picture from 2015.  

For safety reasons, the interior of the Thrasyllos Monument is not open to the public yet.

An introduction to Pyrrhus of Epirus

It was quite a surprise to stand face-to-face with Pyrrhus in Albania. It happened at the entrance to the Skanderberg Museum in Kruje, where his life-sized bust stood right next to the imposing relief figure of Skanderbeg, Albania’s hero. 

Pyrrhus of Epirus was a great-nephew of Olympias and cousin of Alexander the Great – not a small introduction. He was born in c.319 BC – not the right time to be the heir to the Molossian throne of Epirus. He got caught up in the fiery dispute between the sons of Cassander and Thessalonica, and reigning briefly as a minor he had to flee his homeland. He joined the court of Demetrios I (Poliorketes) as an exile, and in 301 BC, aged 18, he fought at the Battle of Ipsus. 

As a pawn in the War of the Diadochi, Demetrios, to befriend Ptolemy gave him Pyrrhus as a hostage. That’s how Pyrrhus arrived in Alexandria. Well, it was not the worst place to grow up, and Pyrrhus most certainly took advantage of the situation, not unlike what Philip II had done at the court of Thebes. He made his way in Egypt and eventually married one of Ptolemy’s daughters, Antigone. 

Four years later, in 297 BC, with Ptolemy’s support, Pyrrhus returned to Epirus and began taking control of his own life. He started expanding his kingdom by annexing Illyria. His ambitions were not small, for when Antigone died, Pyrrhus made three diplomatic marriages to live peacefully with his neighbors. His first wife was Lanassa, the daughter of Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse. Her dowry was the islands of Leucas and Corcyra (modern Corfu). The next bride was the daughter of King Audoleon of the Paeonians living north of Macedonia. His third marriage was to Bircenna, daughter of the Illyrian King Bardylis II. Demetrios Poliorcetes as king of Macedonia, it should be said, had married Pyrrhus’ sister. 

By 288 BC, Pyrrhus turned against Demetrios and succeeded in getting the Macedonian army on his side. With Lysimachos as his new ally, they jointly ruled over Macedonia. Only for a while, though, since Lysimachos still had his mind set on all of Macedonia and expelled Pyrrhus. 

Once more, Demetrios and Pyrrhus made peace, which was again short-lived. When in 286 BC, Demetrios invaded Asia Minor, ruled by Lysimachos; the latter asked Pyrrhus to invade Thessaly to attack Demetrios from Greece. Pyrrhus soon defeated Antigonus Gonatas, Demetrios’ son, who surrendered Thessaly to him to make peace. 

Pyrrhus’ empire now included half of Macedonia, larger Epirus, and Thessaly. Yet, he still wanted more and eyed Magna Graecia, including the wealth of Sicily. His opportunity arose when Taras (modern Taranto) called for his help to repel an imminent Roman attack. Pyrrhus led his army across the Adriatic Sea, including 20 war elephants. He was victorious at Heraclea (modern Policoro southwest of Metaponto) in 280 BC and a year later at Ausculum (modern Ascoli Satriano south of Foggia). 

At this point, Pyrrhus decided to stay in Italy, offering his help to Syracuse. He successfully lifted the Carthaginians’ siege in 278 BC and, in return, was proclaimed King of Sicily. The Medagliere, the strongbox room at Syracuse’s Museum proudly exhibits coins of King Pyrrhus. 

His moment of glory would not last either because of the renewed threat from Carthage, ending Pyrrhus’ siege of Lilybaeum (modern Marsala) in a disaster. The people of Syracuse then decided not to continue the war. The Carthaginians defeated Pyrrhus in 275 BC on his return to Syracuse. 

At the end of that same year, Pyrrhus sailed back to Epirus, which, in his mind, offered new opportunities as his son, Ptolemy, tried to expand the kingdom. The next campaign took Pyrrhus to Argos in the Peloponnesus, where caught in a narrow street, he was killed by a woman who threw a tile from the housetop. 

This was not the death a man like Pyrrhus would have planned. He had fought in so many battles, always leading his men. He had been schooled by Demetrios Poliorketes, who had walked in the footsteps of Alexander and his father, Philip. He was not meant to die such an inglorious death. 

In the 2nd century AD, Pausanias witnessed a memorial to King Pyrrhus at Argos, integrating a panorama ‘carved in relief.’ The king was buried in his capital Ambracia (a colony of Corinth in Epirus). 

Pyrrhus may have led a glorious life, but the Macedonians resented him because he let his Gauls plunder the tombs of the Macedonian kings at Aegae – an unforgivable crime!

Massive plundering of art in the early years of the Roman Empire

The plundering and looting of artwork have been ongoing for centuries, and it was not Emperor Augustus’ scoop. In a previous blog Wartime Looting in antiquity, I covered many ancient artifacts that changed owners over the centuries. This time I want to focus on Augustus’ contribution, among which are some treasures related to Alexander the Great.

Octavian's conquest of Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean clearly went to his head. He was now the most powerful man on earth for all to see and respect. To underscore his role, he proclaimed himself emperor taking the name of Augustus, which means majestic and venerable. Modesty was not his virtue.

The greatest treasures that fell in Octavian hands came from Alexandria, where the Ptolemies had amassed many artworks from the most famous Greek artists like Apelles, Alexander’s privileged painter, and Antiphilus, a contemporary of Apelles and maybe rival. However, he worked mainly for Philip II and for Ptolemy I. Egypt was an untouched trophy, and besides their Greek heritage, they had gathered spoils from Africa and collected other precious Orientalist Greek-Egyptian works of art, all to be added to their own centuries-old cultural heritage. Obviously, Octavian’s army helped themselves during what must have been quite a rampage after the downfall of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Upon their return to Rome, blinded by the wealth that poured into the city, everybody of name and fame wanted a piece of the pie and acquired what they could by all possible means: from honest purchases and authentic gifts to robbery, haggling, blackmail, or bribery.

Egypt was not the first victim, and we will remember that only a good one hundred years before, the Romans had helped themselves to the treasures of Macedonia in 168 BC when they won the decisive Battle of Pydna. Aemilius Paulus took the royal library of Macedonia with him, and Sulla followed suit in 86 BC, helping himself to Aristotle’s personal library in Athens. Marc Antony simply dispatched the 200,000 parchment rolls from the Library of Pergamon to Cleopatra in 43 BC as a wedding gift. Papyri and parchment rolls were no booty to show off with, but paintings, statues, and jewelry enabled you to brag. As kingdoms like Macedonia and Pergamon were subdued by Rome, they became treasure troves for art lovers and the nouveau riches.

Julius Caesar was already a great “collector,” and Octavian, as the new Emperor Augustus, would not stay behind. With the increase of its wealth, Rome developed further refinement. Several private connoisseurs are known by name, like L. Lucinius Luculius and Novius Vindex, who highly appreciated Greek bronze and marble statues made by Lysippos (he acquired a statuette of Heracles, which was previously owned by Alexander, Hannibal, and Sulla), Praxiteles, Phidias, Skopas, and Polycleitus, and the paintings by Apelles were among their prized objects.

Augustus “bought” a famous painting of Aphrodite by Apelles, a controversial transaction that officially enabled the citizens of Cos to pay their outstanding taxes, but some obscure blackmail is more likely. The painting was exhibited for the opening of the Temple of the deified Julius Caesar in the Forum Romanum in 29 BC. Despite the eulogy written by several Latin poets, it remains unclear whether this Aphrodite was painted in the nude, rising from the sea and wringing her hair, or if only her upper body was showing. Two more paintings by Apelles were put on public display on the Forum, probably because they featured Alexander the Great. They were “Castor and Pollux with Victory and Alexander the Great” and “The Figure of War with his Hands tied behind him following the Triumphal Chariot of Alexander.”

Everything tied to Alexander was a prime possession as Augustus was a great admirer of the world conqueror and visited his tomb while he was in Alexandria. So it seems that the bronze Nike statues that supported each corner of the canopy over Alexander’s funeral chariot, as described by Diodorus, found their way to Rome as two of them were placed in front of the Temple of Mars Ultor and the two others stood in front of the Regia. These Nike originally were covered with gold foil or gilt and not made of massive gold as often assumed, for that would have made the statues too heavy for the funeral chariot.

Another close relation to Alexander was found in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus. According to Pliny the Elder, inside this temple stood a magnificent bronze chandelier “with the lights fixed like apples on a tree,” which had been taken by Alexander from Thebes in 335 BC (another earlier spoil of war!). Alexander had dedicated it as his votive offering after victory at the Battle of the Granicus.

The Alexandrian painter Antiphilus was another favorite artist of the Roman emperor. A group representing “Alexander with Philip and Athena” was placed in Rome’s Portico of Octavia with ”Noble Hesione.” In the nearby Portico of Philippi, three more works found a place: “Alexander portrayed in his early teens,” “Dionysus,” and the “Death of Hippolytos.”

Augustus’ greed was boundless, and he did not hesitate to confiscate the chryselephantine statue of Athena from Tegea made by a certain Endoios to place it on the Forum Augusti. At the time of his conquest of Egypt, he also seized the statue of Zeus made by Myron from Samos and moved it to Capitol Hill in Rome.

These are, of course, only a few examples, for it is impossible to know how many works of art Augustus brought to Rome and how many pieces from previous acquisitions changed hands in those days. Yet the quantities and mainly their quality were unheard of, and we must thank Pliny the Elder for documenting the works displayed in Rome’s many public buildings and porticoes. Pausanias also, during his extensive travels, highlighted the prized collection. Plutarch, in turn, had an eye for Cleopatra’s treasures, including precious metals, jewels, pearls, and ivory.

It is hard to imagine the wealth and luxury displayed in the heyday of Rome, for this is far beyond anything we can imagine. Opulence was the common good, the Romans ruled the world, and they showed it.

[The above is based on an article published by Academia.edu: Plundered art in the galleries of Augustan Rome, uploaded by Tomasz Polański. The pictures are mine.]

The Histories by Polybius, A new translation by Robin Waterfield

The Histories by Polybius (ISBN 978-0199534708) are far less known than, for instance, The Histories by Herodotus and cover an entirely different period. As a result, the author and his book merit being put in a well-deserved spotlight.

Few people ever heard of Polybius and it may be useful to introduce him with a short biography. Polybius was born ca. 200 BC, probably in Megalopolis, the capital of the Achaean League (a federal organization of the Peloponnesus). His father played a leading political role and Polybius at the age of thirty was elected deputy leader of the League. But his life changed dramatically when Macedonia lost its independence at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. This had far-reaching consequences for the rest of Greece. The Achaen leaders were deported to Rome, including Polybius, who spent seventeen years in the capital.

However, as a highly educated Greek, he soon befriended Scipio Aemilianus, one of the most powerful men in Rome at that time. He also became friends with Prince Demetrius held hostage in Rome and managed to arrange his escape from the city in 162 BC in order to reclaim his place on the Seleucid throne.

Polybius accompanied Scipio during his campaign in Spain and went to Numidia, modern Tunisia. He tells us how he walked in the footsteps of Hannibal from Spain to Italy. In 149 BC, he was summoned to Carthage where, using his diplomatic skills brought the Carthaginians to comply with the demands of Rome. Not for long though as two years later Polybius joined Scipio again in his siege of Carthage. When that city fell, he traveled beyond Gibraltar to explore the coast of western Africa. For reasons that could not be determined, Achaea revolted against Rome in 146 BC and lost the battle; as a result, the League was dismantled, and proud Corinth was destroyed. Polybius apparently played an important role in the reconstruction of Greece, a gesture that was widely appreciated as Pausanias tells us that many cities of the Peloponnesus erected statues in honor of their fellow countryman.

It is clear that Polybius led a very active life as a politician, general, and even as an explorer and it makes one wonder when and how he found the time to write. Besides his Histories, he left us a study on tactics, a treatise on the habitability of the equatorial region, about the war of Rome against Numantia in Spain, and a biography of Philopoemen, a famous and skilled strategos of Achaea. Unfortunately, the largest part of his works have not survived.

Polybius’ Histories treat the rise of the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean in the period from 220 to 146 BC – a colossal job filling forty books of which only five have survived. Books 1 and 2 are basically an introduction to his work leading to the battle for power between Rome and Carthage, which spills over into Book 3 with the victory of Hannibal in 216 BC. In Books 4 and 5, Polybius turns to the situation in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean before that same date in order to match the chronology in which he likes to report events. Of the following books, which are not necessarily straight history and treat for instance of geography in Book 34, substantial excerpts also exist. From what transpires, he took the trouble to make a summary of his work in Book 40. So much precious information has, unfortunately, been lost over the centuries!

In his effort to explain what kind of constitutional structure Rome applied to conquer the world, it appears that in Book 6 Polybius developed a highly interesting theory about the recurrent cycle of government in which monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy alternate. In the same book, he described the constitution of Rome at length giving us a unique insight into the great organizational skills of the Romans.

What makes Polybius stand out is his overall chronology reporting the events as they develop simultaneously in the eastern and western end of the Mediterranean. It truly is a rare horizontal history and, what’s more, he is the only historian from the Hellenistic period whose work survived to such an extent.

Since the Punic Wars are treated in detail, I found this the best history I ever read without getting lost or confused one way or another in those repeated conflicts that lasted on and off for 118 years. To keep track of time, the year in which the events took place is handily quoted in the margin.

The translation made by Robin Waterfield is superb and reads with the clarity that is characteristic of him (see: Dividing the Spoils).

The book has a great Introduction without which the Histories would be very hard to understand. It also includes a handy chronology of the events covered in the book and a set of three maps, one of the Mediterranean and a detailed one for both Greece and Italy.

Ancient Theater unearthed in Thouria

The Greek Peloponnese seems to be a stepchild when it comes to archaeological discoveries and makes the headlines only occasionally.

Source: E-Kathimerini

 All Images Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports

This time the news comes from Thouria, which is to be found about ten kilometers northwest of Kalamata at the southern end of the peninsula where a theater from the 4^th century BC has been discovered. The remains do not look spectacular as only the orchestra and the first tiers of seats have survived. What is surprising are the three parallel groves running around the orchestra (with a perimeter of 16.3 meters) which suggest that the stage was movable.

The theatre faced the west, offering a great view over the plain of Messenia with in the distance the shimmering waters of the Messenian Gulf.

The site of Thouria was discovered about ten years ago and has been identified thanks to inscriptions found among the shards and architectural remains revealing the size of Thouria. Based on the descriptions left by Pausanias and Strabo, we know that Thouria possessed many sanctuaries like a Temple of Athena, a goddess who was especially honored since her image appears on Roman coins. More famous was the Temple of Atagartis, a Syrian goddess not unlike Venus located next to the fish tanks - it is not surprising that she was represented as a fish.

A citadel with parts of the antique wall including rectangular towers from the 4^th century BC is still commanding the city.

From the classical era all the way down to the Roman occupation, Thouria sided alternatively with the Messinians and with the Spartans although their coins bear the initials of the Spartans.

It will be interesting to follow further excavations in and around Thouria.

[For this picture and more, see Realm of History]

Olympia, in the footsteps of Pausanias

How about walking through a city with a 2,000-year-old guidebook in your hands and still finding your way around? That is possible in Olympia, where you can walk in the footsteps of Pausanias, who visited and described the city in the second century AD (see: Pausanias - Fϋhrer durch Olympia). Back then, Olympia shone in all its glory, some of which we still can find today, although we must also put our imagination to work.

Olympia is where the Olympic Games were born in 776 BC, a four-yearly event celebrated until 393 AD, spanning twelve centuries. The city definitely has something to tell if you listen closely!

According to tradition, the Olympic Games were held at the first full moon after the summer solstice. The high priestess of Olympia would mark the start of these games by lighting the Olympic flame. Participating individuals and city-states would bring offerings to ask for the favor of Zeus and Hera in their respective temples. Among such expensive gifts, some of which made it to the local museum, we find shields, helmets, money, weapons, and statues by the greatest artists of the time. To raise their prestige, many cities built their own treasuries to house their valued offerings.

From a simple foot race over the entire length of the Stadium (192m), the Olympic Games grew into a five-day event with 18 different competitions. These included wrestling, boxing, foot races over longer distances, discus and javelin throwing, chariot, horse racing, and pentathlon. To allow the participants to travel unharmed through bellicose city-states, a three-month truce was called all over Greece, and Olympia attracted as many as 40,000 visitors. The victors' prize was meager in our modern eyes: a crown of olive leaves and an olive branch cut from the nearby sacred grove. True to the Greek idealism of that time, the real prize was eternal glory and fame, reaching a sense of immortality.

Like Pausanias, my first stop is at the Temple of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, completed in 457 BC. It is impossible to follow his detailed description of the roof, the pediments, the metopes, and the votive offerings; there is not even an inkling of the famous statue of Zeus created in 432 BC by nobody less than Phidias, whose workshop is nearby. All I find are massive foundations, the steps of the stylobate, with tumbled-down drums from the archaic Doric columns, one of which has kindly been re-erected for us to visualize. Initially, this temple measuring 64x28m, was the largest in Greece, six columns wide and 13 columns long, reaching a height of almost 11 meters. It is hard to imagine the beauty and the glory of this building staring at these weathered gray limestone elements, which were coated with a thin layer of stucco. This temple's impressive east and west pediments have been retrieved and are now exhibited in their full splendor at the local museum. They are facing each other over the entire length of the room, set at eye level enabling the visitor to closely witness the mythical chariot race of Pelops and Oinomaos on the east pediment (the fundamental myth of Olympia) and the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs on the west pediment with a three-meter tall Apollo at its center. Just try to imagine these pediments when standing in front of the remains of the Temple of Zeus with the huge loose drums of the columns lying on the ground. It must have taken the breath away from any visitor to the Games!

At the museum, there is also a splendid light-footed Nike of Paionos (424 BC) that once stood on a triangular base at the southeastern corner of the Temple of Zeus, still in situ. Her waving cloak and the opening of her wings give the impression of her flying descent from Mount Olympus to proclaim her victory. The Nike is 2.10 meters tall, and the base puts her nearly 9 meters up in the air. The inscription "The Messenians and the Naupactians dedicated to Olympic Zeus a tithe of the booty taken from their enemies" refers to their victory over Sparta, probably around 421 BC.

The very statue of Zeus in the inner temple is beyond imagination. However, antiquity descriptions mention that it was an acrolith, i.e., a wooden frame covered with ivory and gold (see also my earlier blog: The Ladies of Morgantina), with inlaid eyes. Zeus was crowned with an olive wreath; in his right hand, he held an elephantine statue of Nike, the goddess of Victory, also crowned with a wreath and holding out a ribbon, while in his left hand, he was holding the divine scepter. Although the father of the gods was seated, the statue stood 12.4 meters high, meaning that his head nearly hit the ceiling. A recent study has revealed that the slabs of 2.8 to 3 cm thick Pentelic marble used for the temple roofing let through more light than marble from Paros used for the sculptures in the pediment and apparently lit up Zeus' features (especially the eyes) once the visitor's eyesight became accustomed to the darkness inside the temple. To preserve the ivory body parts of Zeus, these were regularly rubbed with oil that was kept in a special shallow reservoir in front of the statue that may have acted as a reflecting pool as well.

For obvious reasons, Pausanias' next stop and mine is at the nearby workshop of Phidias. Since this building was converted into an early Christian church in the 5^th century AD, the overall construction and layout have been preserved – enough, it seems, for scholars to recreate the scale model of this workshop that occupies a prominent place at the Museum of Olympia. It was built primarily to house this work of art and was lit by rows of windows on three different levels. Phidias' workshop measuring 32x14.5m, could be identified at the hand of the many tools and terracotta molds found inside. However, the solid proof came from a small terracotta cup that was unearthed within its walls carrying the inscription "I belong to Pheidias" and is now exhibited at the museum. The artist's house must have emitted a certain prestige and elegance when judging by the corner antefixes retrieved on the premises. But then, he was a renowned and accomplished artist, reputed for having worked closely with Pericles at the reconstruction of the Acropolis in Athens. All the sculptures of the Parthenon are by Phidias or were made under his guidance, and his masterpiece certainly was the Chryselephantine statue of Athena, created some eight years earlier.

The Temple of Hera (the wife of Zeus) was the first large building in Olympia, built between 650 and 600 BC, making it the oldest known Doric temple built of stone (earlier sanctuaries were made of wood). It is also the first well-preserved peripteral temple, meaning the columns ran all around the inner sanctum, sixteen deep and six wide. Inside the Heraion was the table on which the garlands for the victors in the Olympic Games were prepared. The museum hosts a beautiful well-restored terracotta acroterion in the shape of a disk that stands on top of each pediment. It may represent the sun or another heavenly body and is unique for its size and variety of its painted decorations. Better known is undoubtedly the gorgeous Hermes by Praxiteles (late 4^th century BC) that was discovered among the ruins of the Heraion. This perfectly rendered Hermes is holding the infant Dionysus who, as the future god of wine, reaches out for the now lost bunch of grapes which Hermes probably held in his raised right hand. The finely polished 2.13 meters high statue is made of Parian marble and fills the room with its very presence.

At the Philippeon, built by Philip II and finished under Alexander the Great, Pausanias witnessed the statues of both Macedonian kings and those of Amyntas and Eurydike, Philip's parents and of Olympias, his wife – all executed by Leochares in ivory and gold. This circular building, finished around 338 BC and built to commemorate Philip's victory at Chaeronea, has been partially restored to give at least some idea of this exceptional monument. However, the grand statues are long gone. For a complete description of the Philippeon and its historical context, please refer to my earlier blog: The Philippeon at Olympia.

On the way to the Stadium, then and now, the visitor inevitably passes by the large Nymphaeum donated by Herodes Atticus and his wife, Regilla. The fifteen niches of the circular, two-story high back wall were populated with statues of Herodes Atticus himself and those of several Roman Emperors like Antoninus Pius, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and their family members. Several of these marble effigies have been recovered and can be admired at the Museum of Olympia. To name just a few, we find Athenaides, daughter of Herodus Atticus; Annia Faustina or Lucilla, daughters of Emperor Aurelius; Marcus Aurelius himself; the emperors Hadrian and Titus. On the edge of the pool separating the circular part of the rectangular basin in the front stood a life-size bull, also moved to the museum, which carries an inscription left by Herodus Atticus' wife reading: "Regilla, priestess of Demeter offers the water and appendices to Zeus." Each end of this rectangular basin was decorated with a small tholos.

Next to this grand Nymphaeum, twelve Treasury Houses, of which only five have been identified, line up before reaching the Stadium. Today, it is difficult to separate the outline of these buildings from the 6^th and 5^th centuries BC. Still, this lack of insight is compensated mainly by the 16 bases of Zanes (the plural form of Zeus), whose bronze statues, ranging from the 4^th century BC to the 1^st century AD, lined up the way to the entrance of the Stadium. One of these statues even represented Alexander the Great as Zeus! They were built using the fines athletes had to pay for cheating at the Games. The athlete's name and infringement were recorded on these bases for all to know. They stood here as a warning to future competitors. I found it quite amazing to learn that so many statues were made of costly bronze, silver, and even electron; some were even also chryselephantine sculptures with their hands and faces made of gold or ivory (besides the famous Zeus). The wealth of Olympia is far beyond our imagination.

The Stadium is, of course, the piece the resistance standing for all that Olympia was about, the very core of the Olympic Games. An inspiring portion of the vault that initially covered the entire entranceway, the Krypte, added in Hellenistic times, is still visible today. Emerging from this tunnel into the blasting light of the Stadium must have added to the athletes' sense of expectation. The Stadium area was 212.5 meters long and 28 meters wide, but the race field proper met the standard length of 192 meters. Even today, it is pretty exciting to stand on the stone departure line facing the challenge of the entire length of the track. In antiquity, some 40,000 spectators from all over Greece would have cheered their favorite figure from the sloping sides, simply sitting on the grass. The only benches were those reserved for the judges, the so-called Exedra set halfway on the south side of the Stadium. Opposite this Exedra and still visible today stood the altar of Demeter Hamyne.

Whether Alexander ever visited Olympia or attended the Olympic Games is uncertain. Still, we do know that the news of his birth in 356 BC was brought to Philip together with the news that his horses had won. This competition was held at the adjacent 780-meter-long Hippodrome.

It makes one wonder where all these guests and spectators stayed during the games, and it is surprising to find a large guesthouse inside the precinct of Olympia, known as the Leonidaion. It was built around 330 BC and was entirely financed by Leonidas of Naxos. It is said to be the largest hostel of antiquity, and with its 74 x 80 meters, it is indeed imposing. Moreover, it must have been quite a pleasant place to stay. The rooms were located on all four sides of the buildings around a central atrium trimmed with 44 Doric columns, imitating the Greek fashion of the time. The rooms on the west side were larger and more luxurious than those on the other three sides. A gallery counting 138 Ionic columns, 5.5 meters tall, ran around the outside of the Leonidaion. In Roman times, the building was converted into living quarters for their dignitaries, and a wavy pool complete with a central island was added. The ornate terracotta antefixes from this building are particularly handsome with their leaf motifs and lion head spouts, which can be admired at the Museum of Olympia.

The last complex of importance is composed of the Palaestra and the Gymnasium, where all the competitors trained for at least one month before the start of the games. The Palaestra was conceived in the 3^rd century BC for pugilists and wrestlers to exercise. The building was almost square, 66 x 77 m, with a central courtyard surrounded by a colonnade giving access to spaces for practical use like the cloakrooms, teaching rooms, bathrooms, the rooms where athletes could rub themselves with oil and sand, etc. Adjacent to the northern side is the Gymnasium, built about a century later. This building is much larger, measuring 120 x 220 m, and is entirely closed off. Like the Palaestra, it is set around a vast central courtyard with porticos on all four sides. The roof of these wide Stoas was supported on the inner side by a double row of Doric columns. The Gymnasium was appropriately used for sports requiring more space, like running, javelin, discus throwing, etc. In bad weather, the athletes could still exercise under the covered Stoa. Behind the Stoa on the west side were the rooms dedicated to the athletes, while on the east side, the Stoa was closed off by a solid outer wall (see also: Olympia, an ongoing excavation project).

Olympia can only be seen with its museum and vice versa. They truly complement each other.

[Click here to see all the pictures of Olympia]