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Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens

View on map:37.969372°N 23.733078°E

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Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens
37.969669°N 23.732200°E

Temple of Olympian Zeus near the center of Athens.


Temple of Olympian Zeus
37.971456°N 23.728178°E

Temple of Olympian Zeus near the center of Athens along with the Arch of Hadrian.

The Greeks began construction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in the 6th century but it was more than 600 years later that the Romans completed the project under Emperor Hadrian.

Construction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus began in the 6th century B.C. by the Greeks as the most splendid temple ever constructed. But it would not be completed until about 131-132 A.D by the Romans under Emperor Hadrian’s rule. But as Rome lost control of its vast-reaching empire, the temple was looted, pillaged and partially destroyed by the barbarians (the Herulians) in 267 A.D. It never achieved its splendor again falling into disrepair and finally collapse.
Most of the ruins were used to build other structures in Athens during the medieval period. Sixteen columns still stood by the 1800s but one fell during a storm in 1852. British archaeologists excavated the ruins from 1889 to 1896, Germans in 1922, and finally in 1960s by the Greek Archaeologists.


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Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens

The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Greek: Ναὸς τοῦ Ὀλυμπίου Διός, Naos tou Olympiou Dios), also known as the Olympieion or Columns of the Olympian Zeus, is a colossal ruined temple in the centre of the Greek capital Athens that was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD some 638 years after the project had begun. During the Roman periods it was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.

References

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