The Sanctuary of Eleusis

Eleusis has been on my wish list for many years. For some reason or another, my visit was always postponed or canceled. But after much perseverance and determination, the opportunity arose, and I walked through the very entrance to the site. 

It so happens that this was where the Sacred Way ended, the one on which in antiquity the procession had started, leaving the Kerameikos in Athens. All that remains is a large paved area, once framed by two arches. [The picture shows the Sacred Gate at the Kerameikos in Athens]

We owe the earliest version of the Eleusinian Mystery to an unknown poet from the 6th century BC who composed the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The Hymn describes the abduction of Persephone (or Kore), Demeter’s daughter, by her uncle, Hades, god of the Underworld. Demeter, the goddess of the earth and fertility of the land, set out on a desperate adventure to find her back. On her search, she rested here at Eleusis, where she found hospitality. To thank King Celeos and the people of Eleusis for their kindness, she rewarded them with the knowledge of agriculture and the “Mysteries” – sacred wisdom to be experienced and learned at Eleusis. 

Demeter’s quest continued, however. Overcome by sadness, she searched long and far relentlessly. Immersed in grief and loss, the seasons stopped, and living things ceased to grow and died. Facing the extinction of life on earth, Zeus, the brother to both Hades and Demeter and father to Persephone, intervened, commanding Hermes to bring Persephone back. However, because she had consumed some pomegranate seeds while with Hades, she was obliged to stay with him. As the order given by Zeus could not be ignored, the compromise was that Persephone would spend four months each year with Hades. These are the winter months. With Persephone's return to the surface of the earth comes spring, the planting of the seeds, summer, and the harvest in autumn. 

Over time, the Eleusinian Mysteries were open to everybody, male, female, or even slaves, as long as they followed the prescribed initiation. Eventually, most of Athens’ citizens, among whom we count Pericles and Aristotle, were initiated and joined by prominent Romans like Marcus Aurelius.

We know little about the formalities around the annual Mysteries, but almost nothing about their secret rituals. The celebration, which started in autumn, lasted nine days. This began with preparations, purification rites, and sacrifices in Athens proper. On the fifth day, the procession moved to Eleusis along the 20km Sacred Way. 

Several days of festivities at Eleusis followed, including the initiation proper, lasting an entire night. Otherwise, we have little insight into the rites because the participants were sworn to secrecy, and disclosing the mystery was a capital offense. One thing that transpires is that initiation helps to reduce one’s fear of death. Many writers imply that participating permanently and positively changed their lives. Cicero, for instance, stated that the initiated gained the power not only to live happily but also to die with a better hope. 

The Eleusinian Mysteries remained popular for at least eight centuries. As Eleusis was part of Athens’ territory, the latter gained much prestige and fame. Christianity, here as elsewhere, gradually took over. 

Before entering the Sanctuary through the Greater Propylaea, one cannot miss the Temple of Artemis on the right-hand side. It dates from the 2nd century AD, when much of the Sanctuary was reconstructed and expanded. All that’s left of this temple is the crepidoma and bits of columns, among other pieces of architecture. 

The Greater Propylaea, also from the 2nd century AD, has left more vestiges. This tall entrance gate was a reduced copy of the better-known Propylaea at the Acropolis in Athens, built some 600 years earlier. It was erected by Emperor Hadrian and finished by Marcus Aurelius. 

Slightly behind this majestic gateway is a large cave-like opening in the rock considered an entrance to the Underworld. There was a small temple dedicated to Hades (the Roman Pluto). 

The primary building and heart of the sanctuary was the enormous Telesterion, where the Mysteries were celebrated. It was conceived by Tyrant Peisistratus at the instructions of Athens. Three sides of the inner space were occupied by seven rows of seats, allowing a crowd of participants to observe what happened. Five rows of Ionian columns supported one of the most extensive roofs in the world (50x50m). The entrance on the southeast was protected by a portico supported by twelve columns of white marble, standing in stark contrast with the dark stones of the outer walls. The Telesterion kept the most important element of the megaron, the Adyton, which coincided with the Anaktoron, the sanctum sanctorum. Here, the sacred objects were kept and only shown to those initiates and officials of the Mysteries who were allowed to enter. 

This marvelous construction was destroyed during Xerxes’ expedition, but soon plans arose to rebuild it twice the size of Peisistratus’ concept. Being too ambitious, the Telesterion was reduced to the rectangular shape we recognize today, offering seating for 4,000 people. 

Of course, it takes a lot of imagination to picture this unusual structure since all there is left to see is this wide paved area dotted with a few stubs of columns. The rock-cut tiers of seating are the most remarkable remnant of this striking building. The memory of the place is still there, but only limited evidence of what went on inside.

At the far end of the site is a small museum worth visiting, as always. The most striking relief of Demeter and Persephone has been moved to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, but a copy is kept within these walls. 

It’s only on the way back that I notice the remains of the Lesser Propylaea, about halfway between the Greater Propylaea and the Telesterion. Noteworthy is the Roman relief on which ears of wheat, Demeter's gift to humankind, are clearly depicted.

The Moon was not a God

Anaxagoras was one of the first persons to state that the moon was a rock. His theory was that the moon had been flung into space by the Earth. The Sun, in turn, was labeled as being a burning rock. The philosopher probably was born in 499 BC in Klazomenai, when Asia Minor was still under Persian rule.

His greatest merit was his attempt to describe the occurrence of eclipses, meteors, rainbows, and the behavior of the Sun and the Moon. The eclipse that he witnessed in 463 BC while he was travelling through Greece may have contributed to his further in-depth observations.

His most surprising “discovery” – that certainly was very disconcerting to people in antiquity – was his statement that the moon’s face was illuminated from the Sun on the opposite side of the Earth. He realized that the phases of the moon resulted from the alignment of the Moon, Sun and Earth. In short, he described the solar eclipse.

He wrote a book about this and other theories but, as so often, his knowledge only percolated through fragmentary work by later scholars among which we find Aristotle. As a consequence, Anaxagoras’ concepts may have been part of Alexander’s schooling baggage.

Contrary to the generally accepted theory of the time, he declared that the Moon and the Sun were objects (rocks) and not gods. The Athenians deeply resented this impiety and Anaxagoras was accused of blasphemy. Consequently, the philosopher was arrested and sentenced to death. However, thanks to the personal intervention of Pericles, Anaxagoras was exiled to Lampsacus on the Hellespont.

None of his contemporaries could have imagined that Anaxagoras’ ideas about the eclipses and lunar phases would live on for 2,600 years, that is until this day.

Phidias, architect and sculptor

One of the most recurrent names of Greek sculptors is undoubtedly Phidias. He lived in the days of Pericles, Athens’ Golden Age. His best-known masterpieces were completed in the years between 465 and 430 BC.

The first Persian War of 490 BC ended with the Battle of Marathon. The second Persian invasion in 480 and 479 BC led to the fire of Athens and its Acropolis. The Athenians who had sought refuge on the nearby island of Salamis could only watch on. As a result of these wars, Athens had to be rebuilt, and Themistocles’ priority was to protect the city. He erected a protective wall using much of the rubble from the destroyed buildings.

The restoration of the Acropolis happened only some thirty years later. That enterprise was led by the statesman and orator Pericles, who came to power around 461 BC. He had befriended Phidias, who was already a celebrated artist. He put him in charge of rebuilding the Parthenon.

Rebuilding the Parthenon was no small affair. Phidias functioned as a modern general manager and supervisor and had to take care of almost every detail. The new design was meant to boost Greek morale and express the courage of the Greeks who had defeated the Persian invaders.

The modern restoration works at the Parthenon have revealed many subtle construction elements that were hitherto unknown. Isn’t it amazing to find out that the true genius of Phidias surfaces only 2,500 years after his death? Thanks to modern technology, we can genuinely appreciate the complicated arithmetic and geometric correlation in calculating the temple’s proportions. And there is an overall inter-relationship between its height, width, and depth that has never been surpassed. As described in an earlier blog (see: The perfection of a Greek temple), the entire concept of the Parthenon is just perfect. The eye is being tricked, for there is no single straight line in the whole construction!

Many original friezes and reliefs have now been moved to the New Acropolis Museum. The way they are exhibited helps us understand the concept of the entire project as the sequence of the scenes unfolds to the visitor walking past.

Under Pericles, Phidias constructed a giant nine-meter-high statue of Athena Promachos in bronze. It stood between the Propylaea (the actual entrance to the Acropolis) and the Parthenon and could be seen far out at sea. Another statue of Athena was erected inside the Parthenon. This was a chryselephantine statue that stood twelve meters tall. It was covered with ivory and gold. Athena was easily recognizable to all, with the head of Medusa on her shield and her characteristic helmet. As extra references, she carried the image of Nike, the goddess of Victory, in her right hand and held her spear with her left. At her feet, a small pond filled with oil was added to moisturize the fragile ivory, creating a soft reflection of her features at the same time. This Athena was dedicated in 438 BC, i.e., almost ten years after its conception. Please note that this was only 100 years before Alexander the Great was born. He must have seen her in all her glory!

Very soon afterward, Phidias’ started his greatest masterpiece, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We are talking about the famous statue of Zeus, conceived especially for the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, completed in 432 BC. It stood in the inner temple and is beyond our imagination. In antiquity, it was described as an acrolith, i.e., made of a wooden frame covered with ivory and gold (see also: 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, while in his left hand, he held 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. Just like for the Athena inside the Parthenon, the ivory body parts of Zeus were regularly rubbed with oil. A shallow oil reservoir in front of the statue also acted as a reflecting pool (see: Olympia, in the footsteps of Pausanias).

Working from his nearby shop in Olympia, it took Phidias eight years to complete this wondrous statue. His quarters were built primarily to house this work of art. The place has been identified thanks to a small terracotta cup unearthed within its walls carrying the inscription “I belong to Pheidias.” His house must have emanated prestige and elegance fitting a renowned and accomplished artist.

Sadly, no originals of Phidias’ work have survived. All we have are copies usually made by the Romans several centuries later. The artist is known for creating a dedication in memory of Marathon and a large bronze in Delphi that combined Apollo and Athena with several attic heroes. We can be assured, however, that he influenced countless artists all over the Mediterranean for many centuries.

Phidias died in 430 BC, probably shortly after having completed his Olympian masterpiece, but the circumstances of his death are shrouded in mystery.

The Kingdom of the Bosporus

The Kingdom of the Bosporus comprised the lands between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, more precisely the Taman Peninsula and the Kerch Peninsula on either side of the Cimmerian Bosporus.

[Picture from Wikipedia Public Domain]

As developed in an earlier blog about the Greek colonization of the Black Sea (see: The many colonies of Miletus), the Ionian city of Miletus created new colonies especially over the period from 580 to 560 BC. Here, the foundations were laid for the Kingdom of the Bosporus which lasted for almost a thousand years. Over the centuries it became a melting pot of civilizations as the Greeks mingled with neighboring Scythians and Sarmatians. This kingdom whose capital was Panticapaeum, reached its peak between the 6^th and the 3^rd century BC when the new colonists maintained strong cultural and trade relations.

This part of the world, which – let’s not forget - cannot have been unknown to Alexander, is subject at present to successive excavations triggered by the Russians who are constructing a highway leading to the Kerch Bridge over the Strait of the same name in order to link Russia with the Crimea.

The area turns out to be rich in archaeological finds. One of them is a Roman villa from the middle of the 1^st century AD considered to be a true example of daily life. It has yielded a number of household items, various tools, cheap jewelry, and small terracotta figurines which are identified as toys and have been baptized Hellenistic Barbie dolls. At that time, the economy was booming in the kingdom of the Bosporus which included not only eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula but also the downstream areas of the Don River. The archaeologists have concluded that the area was occupied by a slightly well-off middle class but by no means large Roman landowners.

Another project is the Greek necropolis in the Taman Peninsula counting some 600 burial mounds. They belong to several Greek colonies that lived in the wider area from the end of the 7^th century BC until the middle of the 4^th century BC. A Corinthian bronze helmet has been unearthed in a grave from the 5^th century BC. This is a spectacular discovery considering that these helmets appeared in Greece only a century before and were widely used by the Greek hoplites. It was also the stereotype model that was applied when representing Athena or Pericles, for instance.

In a burial mound in Crimea, on the other hand, Russian archaeologists discovered a partly disintegrated wooden sarcophagus from the second half of the 4^th century BC holding the skeleton of a teenager. Among the grave goods, they found many sport-related gifts like ten alabastrons, a strigil, 150 knucklebones and a red-figure wine jar belonging to the so-called Kerch style.

It will be interesting to follow the excavations around the Black Sea for they certainly will reveal many more treasures.

[Thessaloniki Byzantine Agora, Agia Sophia Station [Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture]

As until recently archaeological discoveries depended purely on coincidences and good luck, the modern road and metro works carried out in cities like Athens, Rome, Thessaloniki, Sofia (ancient Serdica), Plovdiv (ancient Philippopolis), and many others, are yielding knowledge and information otherwise inaccessible. As always, excavations are a matter of politics and money – sadly.

[Picture Hellenistic Barbie Doll from Archaeology News Network]
[Picture Corinthian Helmet from Archaeology News Network]

De Griekse Oudheid in Vijftig Levens (A History of Ancient Greece in Fifty Lives) by David Stuttard

Flipping through a book at a shop – in this case, the bookshop of the Archaeological Museum of Leiden (Netherlands) - is quite different from buying one via the Internet. Actually holding it in my hands and marveling at the pictures and the many familiar names made me fall in love with this book, and I’m certain this would not have happened clicking through the page on the internet. There is that extra dimension, like when holding a paper book as opposed to an eBook.

This is how I ended up buying this Dutch translation of A History of Ancient Greece in Fifty Lives by David Stuttard (ISBN 978-0500252055). Yet the language is not important; it's all about the book’s contents.

Stuttard starts with a chapter Of Gods and Heroes without whom Greece could not exist. Next, he tackles the many men (and one woman, Sappho) who made Greece great, working chronologically and putting them in their own historical context: The Era of the Tyrants, Greece in Peril, the Age of Pericles, World War, Fallout, The Age of the Dynasts, In the Shadow of Rome, and finally Lives in a Mirror.

Instead of relating history through battles and dates, he selects key figures from each era and, through them, projects Greece’s rich past using the views and contributions of politicians, philosophers, kings, artists, generals, etc. The result is a most comprehensive and easy-to-read history of Greece, taking it to a human scale.

Great care has been given to the presentation of this book, with occasional inserts and appropriate pictures. It makes very captivating reading.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the translation in Dutch, "De Griekse Oudheid in Vijftig Levens" (ISBN 9-789401-905725), where words have been mistranslated (speaking of Spaniards instead of Spartans, for instance) and sentences have been twisted to mean the opposite of what is intended. I discovered most of these errors in the chapter on Alexander the Great, which makes me wonder how much the rest of the book is trustworthy. 

David Stuttard has been informed of this unfortunate situation and is taking action.

There is more to Athens than the Acropolis and the Parthenon

In a recent article, Ancient History wrote about five ancient sites that are usually overlooked by tourists visiting Athens but are very much worth the short detour.

Most visitors rush to the Acropolis and hopefully include a tour of the New Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum as well but there are these little nearby gems that may be as exciting since you can have them almost all to yourself.

On top of the list, I would put the excavations underneath the New Acropolis Museum which are in plain view when you enter the museum. These remains are partly covered by glass plates and show the remains of a Township of Athens as it evolved in time. You can have a close look at some intricate mosaic floors or a round room with a circular pool or the entrance to a building from the 7^th century BC. This underground is accessible from inside the museum.

Another interesting feature is the Township of Koile on the west side of the Hill of Philopappou within walking distance from the foot of the Acropolis. Ancient roads with the grooves left by thousands of cartwheels are always an exciting feature and this road also has a water channel running alongside. Here, you can walk among the ruins of houses and even climb a staircase. Koile was protected by the Wall of Themistocles that ran all the way to the Piraeus but when Philip II of Macedonia arrived here new defenses were built to replace the walls taken down by the Spartans. This new wall put Koile outside the fortification and the town was soon abandoned. It became a burial site the remains of which are still visible.

Particularly noteworthy is the nearby Tomb of Cimon, the athlete who repeatedly won the chariot races at the Olympic Games in 536, 532, and 528 BC. This Cimon was also the father of Miltiades, the general who led the victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC. This tomb occupied a prominent position in its days and it takes some imagination to picture the spot where his winning horses were buried just opposite his own tomb.

Not too far away, there is a spot with three cave-like openings in the rock wall that have been sealed off with iron bars and are known as the Prison of Socrates. Whether or not this is true remains a subject of discussion as other, probably later sources say that the philosopher was executed by poisoning in 399 BC.

My own favorite is the Pnyx Hill where the Athenians gathered to listen to great orators like Themistocles, Pericles, and Demosthenes and where their democratic votes were taken. The speaker’s platform is about the only original structure still standing but overlooking the now disappeared tiers where the audience took place is quite overwhelming. Set against the Acropolis in the background it makes truly a magnificent place to linger.

Of course, there is far more to see and enjoy around the corner of the Acropolis. To name a few, there is the Ancient Agora with the well-preserved Temple of Hephaistos or Theseion and a little further the great remains of the Roman Agora with the newly restored Tower of the Winds and adjacent Library of Hadrian. On the other side of the Acropolis and visible from its top, are the imposing remains of the Temple of Zeus not far from the Gate constructed by Emperor Hadrian carrying on one side the inscription that this was where the city of Athens began and on the other side where it ended. In between the Acropolis and the Gate of Hadrian, one automatically passes by the Tower of Lysicratos.

Practical information and details as to the road to follow to the five highlighted locations can be found in the abovementioned article by Ancient History

The Lost World of the Aegean by Maitland A. Edey

In the series The Emergence of Man, Time-Life has edited this book, The Lost World of the Aegean by Maitland A. Edey (ASIN: B000SZQWW2) in the mid-1970s, but the subject and the results achieved are still very current.

At the time of my purchase, I was introduced to the Minoan civilization, which is nicely developed and pictured in this book. In fact, the package offers much more than this slice of the history of mankind and is a wonderful introduction to the history of the Greek people and their origins. There are many theories, but nobody really knows who the people were who would become the Greeks, where they came from, or when they arrived. In his book, Maitland Edey refers to a great study made by a British archaeologist who specialized in the Bronze Age Aegean and more specifically the Cyclades, Colin Refrew.

The thorough study based mainly on shards of pottery has led to dividing those early ages into three distinct periods:

- The Early Bronze Age (3000-2000 BC) with a parallel comparison of Early Cycladic, Minoan and Helladic vessels;

- The Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC) with a similar comparison between Middle Cycladic, Minoan, and Helladic; and finally

- The Late Bronze Age (1500-1100 BC), showing parallels between Late Cycladic, Minoan, and Hellenic which is also known as Mycenaean

The Bronze Age in the Cyclades is carefully examined with its enigmatic and typical marbles. An evolution in the art of these statuettes can be established, ranging from the violin-shaped females with their long necks to the figurines with stumpy arms and legs with minimal facial features to figurines standing with crossed arms and showing prominent noses.

This culture was gradually absorbed by the Minoans of Crete, and the author details the vestiges of the Great Minoan Royal Palaces discovered and excavated by Arthur Evans. Strangely enough, although the Minoans knew how to read and write as early as 2000 BC, their language remains an enigma as it has not been deciphered. However, the many frescoes and vestiges that were recovered from palaces at Knossos, Malia, Kato Zakro, Haghia Triada, and Phaistos turned out to be very helpful in creating a picture of daily life and the overall organization of this civilization. Unfortunately, these palaces met dramatic and mysterious fates, and the Minoan culture suddenly disappeared.

Inevitably, history leads us to the Lost Atlantis, once an island empire that sank into the sea after the catastrophic eruption of the volcano on which it was built. What remains, according to the author, is the island of Thera (modern Santorini), and it has been established that its fate is linked to that of Crete. The volcano ashes buried Crete under a thick blanket that destroyed crops and fields for years. Among the cities recently unearthed from its ashes is the site of Akrotiri – a situation not unlike that of Pompeii. Thera itself has disclosed a great treasure of lively frescoes depicting people and animals, even an entire 20-ft-long maritime scene of the Libyan coast and a pastoral scene including a series of soldiers marching off towards the battlefield.

As one civilization disappears, another is on the rise, and, in this case, it is the Myceneans who are taking over the power in the eastern Mediterranean, confirmed and illustrated by the masterpieces recovered from the Royal Graves by Heinrich Schliemann. Besides cities like Tiryns and Mycenae, attention is given to the beehive-shaped tomb known as the Treasure of Atreus, which Schliemann took for belonging to Agamemnon. The many, mainly gold treasures found at Mycenae are well documented.

When this period of glory crumbled, Greece slumbered into the dark ages, which lasted for three or four hundred years and are said to have been darker than the Middle Ages in Western Europe. Rooted in the once so glorious Mycenaean civilization, eventually, the Age of Pericles and Socrates emerged, laying the foundations of our Western civilization.

The book concludes with a great chart entitled The Emergence of Man (the actual subtitle of the book, and rightfully so), putting Geology, Archaeology, Time (in millions, then thousands, then hundreds of years ago), and Places/Inventions on one line.

It makes fascinating reading!

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. 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 held 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, which 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 by 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 the 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 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 of resistance that stands 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]