Temple of Olympian Zeus
Introduction
The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Greek: , romanized: Naos tou Olimpiou Dios), also known as the Olympeion (Ancient Greek: ), is a temple in Athens. Although started in the century BC. C., it was not completed until the reign of Emperor Hadrian, in the 17th century. In Hellenistic and Roman times it was the largest temple in Greece.
History
The temple is located about 500 meters southeast of the Acropolis of Athens and about 700 m south of Syntagma Square (center of Athens).
Its foundations were laid on the site of a first temple by the tyrant Pisistratus in 515 BC. C., but the work was abandoned when his son, Hippias, was overthrown in 510 BC. C.[1]
During the years of Athenian democracy, the temple was left incomplete, because it was thought that it would go against hubris to build on such a scale. Aristotle, in the Politics "Politics (Aristotle)"), cited the temple as an example of how tyrannies "Tyranny (Ancient Greece)") attracted the people to great works of state and left them without the time, energy or means to rebel.[2].
Work was resumed in 174 BC. C., during the Macedonian domination of Greece, under the patronage of the Hellenistic king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who hired the Roman architect Cosucio to design the largest temple in the known world. When Antiochus died in 164 BC. C. the work was late again.[1].
In 86 BC C., after the Greek cities fell under Roman rule, General Sulla took two columns from the unfinished temple to Rome, to adorn the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the Capitoline Hill. These columns influenced the development of the Corinthian style in Rome.
In the 17th century, the temple was taken over by Emperor Hadrian, a great admirer of Greek culture, who finally brought it to completion in 129 (some sources say 131).[1]
It is not known when the building was destroyed but, like many large buildings in Greece, it is likely that it occurred due to an earthquake in the Middle Ages. Most of its ruins were used as construction materials.
Description of its structure
The temple was built of marble from Mount Pentelicus. It measured 96 meters long on its long sides and 40 meters wide on its eastern and western faces. It had 104 Corinthian "Column (architecture)" columns, each one 17 meters high, 2.6 meters in diameter and weighing approximately 364 tons; of which 48 were placed in triple rows under the pediments "Fronton (architecture)") and 56 in double rows on the sides. Only 16 of these columns survive today, 13 of them, on the east side, standing. Of the remaining three, on the west side, one collapsed in 1852 and is still lying where it fell.[3].