Olympic Flame
 

Principal Entracnce
 

Ancient Site
 

Ancient Site
 

Ancient Olympia - Reproduction
 

Ancient Site

For more photos 
please visit
Olympia's 
Photo Galerry

With the shady groves of pine, olive, and oak tree, the considerable remains of two temples, and the stadium where the first Olympic races were run in 776 B.C., Olympia is the most beautiful major site in the Peloponnese. when you realize that the archaeological museum is one of the finest in Greece, you'll see why you can easily spend a full day here. There is really no modern equivalent for ancient Olympia, which has both a religious sanctuary and an athetlic complex, where the games took place every four years from 776 B.C. to 395 A.D.

A LOOK AT THE PAST:

Postherds of the 3rd and apsidal houses of the 2nd millennium B.C. bear witness to the early settlement of the site. Later the houses gave place to a sanctuary of Zeus asociated with the older cult of Hera. The Olympic Games, probably began as a local funerary celebration in honour of Pelops. The Greeks believe that Herakles had laid down the regulations for the Games and had specified the lenght of the stadion as 183m. The first historical reference to the Games is in 776 B.C. in a trety between kings Ipthio of Elis and lykourgos of Sparta.
From 776 B.C. onwards lists were kept of the winners in the foot-race round the Stadion, giving rise to the Greek method of chronogical reckoning by olimpiads. Others events were added later - in 8th century the two-stade race, the long-distance race and the penthathlon, in the 7th century boxing, chariot-racing and the pankration, In the 6th century a race with weapons. 
The winners received a branch of the sacred olive-tree, but also material rewards. Only in the 4th century was the Stadion moved 80m East and separeted from the Altis. After their heyday in the 5th century the Games gradually declined; the religious element became increasingly less proeminent and they were contested by profesional athletes. They were finally banned by the Emperor Theodosius, and came to an end in 393 A.D. after an existance of more than a thousand years. 
The games will re-establishment in 1896 by French Baron de Coubertin.

WHAT TO SEE & DO:

The Archaeological Museum
Every victorious city and almost victorious athlete dedicated a bronze or marble statue here. Nothing but the best was good enough for Olympia, and many of these superb worksof art are on view here. The monumental sculpture from the Temple of Zeus is probably the finest surviving example of arhaic Greek sculpture. There are the sculpture of the Lapiths and Centhaurus battle, the figure of Hermes and the infant Dionysios known as the Hermes of praxiteles and two excellent site models who make clear the ancient Olympia, divided into two parts: the Altis and the civic area.

The Ancient Site
Pine trees shade the little valley, dominated by the conical Hill of Kronos. The handsome temple and the famous stadium are not immediately as you enter the site. 
Immediately to the left are the remains of the Romans baths, on right the gymnasium and palestra, still ahead on the right are the remains of a swimming pool and the large square Leonidaion, which served as a hotel. In antiquity between festivals, Olympia was crowded with thousand of statues, but every four years during the games, so many people thronged here. 
The religious sanctuary was, and is dominated by two temple: the good-sized temple of Hera and the massive temple of Zeus. Beyond the temples, built up against the Hill of Kronos itself, are the curved remains of a once-elegant Roman fountain and the foundations of 11 treasuries. In front of the tresuries are the low bases of a series of bronze statues of Zeus dedicated by those caught cheating in the stadium.

The Museum of the Olympic Games
Include victor's medals, commemorative stamps, and photos of winning athlets, such as former King Constantine of Greece and the great African-
American athlete Jesse Owens, and photo of the founder of the modern Olympisc, Baron de Coubertin

GETTING THERE:

198 km from Tolo, 311 km from Athena
Altitude: 60m; Population: 500
By Bus
There are three busses a day from the Stathmos Leoforia Peloponisou in Athens. There are also frequent buses from Patras to Pirgos with a conecting service to Olympia
By Train
There are several trains a day from Athens to Pirgos, where you can catch a bus on to Olympia.
By Car
From Athens - Corinth - Patra, or Athens - Corinth - Tripoli.