The Temple of Olympian Zeus

The Temple Of Zeus remains

The Temple of Olympian Zeus is ruined temple in the middle of the city of Athens, Greece. Construction began during the Athenians in the 6^th Century and ended during the rule of the roman emperor Hadrian, in the 2^nd Century. It house many cult statues that were know in the ancient world.

Architects Antimachides, Callaeschrus, and Porinus design the temple and wanted it to be built with limestone in the Corinthian Style and on a platform that was around 135 ft. X 355 ft. The foundation was on top of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus himself. Another building stood there before during the rule of Tyrant Peisistratus 550 BC but was later destroy and his sons Hippias and Hipparchos constructed the New Temple in 520 BC. Both wanted the new temple to surpass existing temples Heraion and Artemis, but the project was stop when Hippias was overthrown in 510 BC. Only the platform and a few columns were completed. During the Athenians Democracy the temple was left like that for 336 years because they thought it was…

Than in 174 BC King Antiochus revived the project and hired Decimus Cossusutius, a roman architect to continue the construction. He decides to change the design and choose a different material for the building.  The total number of columns was now 104 and the materials were now high- quality pentelic marble. However the project was stopped half way, yes again in 116 BC after the death of Antiochus. After that in 86 BC the building took on serious damage when Lucius Sulla raided the temple and took some of the incompleted columns and re-used them for the temple of Jupiter, located in Rome.

Floor Plan

This temple had a hard time to be completed but it was final completed when Hadrain finally took the throne as the Rome Emperor. It was finished because of a massive building program that help the city construct many new buildings including the temple. A wall marvel precinct was constructed around the temple to make it a main focus of the city.

[1] http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/greece/hetairai/zeus.html

[2]Project MUSE - The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Heroes, and Athletes." Project MUSE - The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Heroes, and Athletes. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.