The history of the habitation of Olympia is lost in prehistoric times, but buildings have been unearthed dating as far back as the middle Helladic era (1600-1900 BC). It is believed that the first god worshipped at the sanctuary was Kronos, father of Zeus. A multitude of deities were represented there during the bronze age until it was dominated by the worship of Zeus at the end of the Mycenaean era around 1100 BC.


In the year 776 BC the first Olympic Games took place at the sanctuary of Zeus and were repeated every four years for centuries thereafter. The date of the first Olympic Games is the first accurate chronology of historical Greece since the names of the victors were faithfully recorded and the ancient Greeks measured time back by referring to the different Olympic Games.


The Olympic Games were a tradition that endured centuries of time resulting in a feeling of unity through competition that galvanized the independent Greek city-states into a coherent cultural entity. The games were so important to the Greeks that they put aside their traditional differences, and even went as far as ceasing open hostilities in war time in order to assemble in the sanctuary of Olympia to compete in the honorable games. The tradition of togetherness helped the Greek colonies retain close ties with mainland Greece, and acted as a catalyst for the development of what we now know as the Hellenic contribution to the birth of Western civilization.


The largest temple at the center of the Olympia sanctuary was dedicated to Zeus. The designer was Libon of Elis and his masterpiece, The Temple of Zeus, was completed in 456 B.C. This temple followed a design used on many large Grecian temples. It was similar to the Parthenon in Athens and the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. The temple was built on a raised, rectangular platform. Thirteen large columns supported the roof along the sides and six supported it on each end. A gently-peaked roof topped the building. The pediments created by the sloped roof at the ends of the building were filled with sculpture. Under the pediments, just above the columns, was more sculpture depicting the twelve labours of Hercules, six on each end.


Though the temple was considered one of the best examples of the Doric design because of its style and the quality of the workmanship, it was decided the temple alone was too simple to be worthy of the king of the gods. To remedy this, the Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned the "sacred" task of creating a sculpture. That sculpture was the magnificent statue of Zeus that would become one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The base of the statue was about 6.5 m (20 ft) wide and 1.0 meter (3 ft) high. The height of the statue itself was 13 m (40 ft), equivalent to a modern 4-story building. It was made of ivory and gold.

The circumstances of its eventual destruction are a source of debate: It is said the Roman Emperor Caligula "gave orders that such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or for their artistic merit, including that of Zeus at Olympia, should be brought from Greece, in order to remove their heads and put his own in their place." Caligula was assassinated in AD 41; However, the eleventh-century Byzantine historian Georgios Kedrenos recorded the tradition that it was carried off to Constantinople, where it was destroyed in the great fire of the Lauseion, in AD 475; Still others argue that it perished in Olympia along with the temple when it burned in 425.

The Archaeological Museum in Olympia retains many of the artifacts of ancient Olympia so we will be able to see some interesting things. Many remnants of the Twelve Labors of Hercules have been reassembled and are on display; art and equipment from the ancient Olympics are housed; and, as a gift to women everywhere, we can enjoy us some Hermes. No, not that one, I mean the protector of Dionysus and the one the Romans called Mercury.

Next Stop: Kerkira (Corfu Town), Corfu.