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Pausanias' Description of the Altar at Olympia
"The first stage of the altar at Olympia, called prothysis, has a circumference of one hundred and twenty-five feet; the circumference of the stage on the prothysis is thirty-two feet; the total height of the altar reaches to twenty-two feet." Pausanias. Description of Greece. Trans. by Jones, W. H. S. & Omerod, H. A., (1918), 5.13.9. Photo is an illustration of the Temple of Zeus by Wilhelm Lübke as it might have looked in the 5th C. BC. -
Period: Jan 1, 1516 to
Olympia Through the Ages
History of Excavations at Olympia History of the excavations that took place at Olympia.
Brief timeline. -
Renewed Interest in Olympia
First modern reference to the site was made by Bernard de Montfaucon in a letter to archbishop of Corfu, cardinal Quirini: "...mais qu'est-ce que tout cela en comparaison de ce qu'on peut trouver dans la côte de la Morée opposée à ces îles. C'est l'ancienne Elide où se célébraient les jeux olympiques, où l'on dressait une infinité de monuments pour les victorieux, statues, bas-reliefs, inscriptions..." Vandenabeele (1988) "The Rediscovery of the Greek Sanctuaries," p.221. -
A Description of the Ruins (Vandenabeele, 1988, p.221)
Richard Chandler visited the ruins and noted:
"The ruin, which we had seen in the evening, we found to be the walls of the cell of a very large temple, standing many feet high and well-built, the stones all injured... From a massive capital remaining it was collected, that the edifice had been of the Doric order... The side is by the road-side, in a green valley between two ranges of even summits pleasantly wooded. The mountain once called Cronium is on the north and the south river Alpheus..." -
Richard Chandler Visits Olympia
Chandler, Richard. "Travels in Greece or an Account of the Society of Dilettanti" (1776), p.289. -
Recueil de cartes géographique, plans, vues et médailles de l'ancienne Grèce
"Olympie subsiste dans un petit lieu appelé aujourd'hui Miraca. Chandler et M. Foucherot (c) y ont trouvé peu de ruines; mais M. Fauvel qui accompagnoit d'abord M. Foucherot, a été plus heureux dans un second voyage qu'il a fait en 1787, par ordre de M. le comte de Choiseul-Gouffier. Il a retrouvé l'hippodrome, le stade, le théâtre et le temple de Jupiter; en sorte que l'on aura dans un peu la mesure exacte de tous ces monumens."
Jean Denis Barbié de Bocage et J.J. Barthélemy (1789), XV. -
Olympia on the Map
Typography became very important, as we saw in class. The picture to the left portrays four different time periods and the emergence of Olympia on a map. The periods are as followed: a. Venetian map 18th c. (no mention of Olympia); b.,c. Lapie 1822 and 1826 (Ruines d'Olympie); d. Weiss 1829 (Antilalon/Olympia). For a better view of the picture visit the link and scroll to p.175 The Ancient Olympia Landscape -
Ernst Curtius' Discoveries at Olympia
"The national importance of Olympua resulted [...] from a series of historic developments. [...] Olympia was one of the few sites where no new settlement interferes to prevent a thorough exploration of the ground. But nowhere else can you find so many remains of Grecian civilization belonging to every age and to every region." Curtius, Ernst, "Discoveries at Olympia" (1880), 484-486. -
Illustration of Olympia in Ancient Greece
The illustration is from the "Universal-Lexikon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit" (German encyclopedia) from Heinrich August Pierer. -
The Setting of Modern Olympia
"Ancient Olympia was a city of athletics, art and prayer. The order of these three terms has at times been wrongly reveresed. The sacred nature and the esthetic nature of Olympia were consequences of its athletic role. The city of athletics was an intermittent thing. The city of art and prayer were permanent. The same will hold true for modern Olympia. Its raison d'être will be the celebration of Games. [...] Yet art and religion will remain there continuously.
Revue Olympique (1909), p.153-156. -
Letter to Pierre de Coubertin about the Olympics
"I profoundly admire the work to which you have dedicated your life: the "Neo-Olympism" which has helped save our country and has been one of the great artisans of victory. The heartbeat of Greece could be heard at Olympia as claerly as in Athens. It is to Olympia as much as to Athens that Greece owed her magnificient destiny. That is where Greece trained the vigorous youth that was her best defence against the barbarians." "Letter of Maréchal Lyautey" (May 16 1924) in the Archives du COI. -
Hitler's Olympics - "The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games" (1992)
The following is a link to the opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympic Games:
1936 Opening Ceremony
The following link is to a funny video about Hitler and the 2012 London Olympics:
Funny Spoof - Hitler and the 2012 Olympics
Coubertin remarks, "that these 'grandiose' games, organized with 'Hitlerian strength and discipline' had 'magnificently served the Olympic ideal'."
Guttmann p.70 -
"Olympia"
Film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics. Use of the Greek site as the name for a movie implies a connection to the Ancient Greeks and where the Olympic idea originated from. -
Henry Miller's Travels in Greece
"Seldom a human being, seldom a vehicle, a world growing more and more rarefied, more and more miraculous. Under lowering clouds the scene became immediately ominous and terrifying: only a god could survive the furious onslaught of the elements in this stark Olympian world." Miller, Henry. "Colossus of Maroussi." London: Seckler & Warburg (1945), p.182 -
Museum at Olympia
"Recent years have seen the construction of a new museum at Olympia, giving the opportunity for a programme of comprehensive study, restoration and rearrangement of the sculptures, now come to fruition in the central hall of the new building." Barron, John P. "Alkamenes at Olympia" (1984), 199. -
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Videos about Olympia
Modern day use of technology to connect people around the world with tourist destination. The following link is to a youtube video about the Sanctuary of Olympia: Sanctuary of Olympia The following link is to a youtube video given you a virtual tour of Olympia Virtual Tour of Olympia
