Temple of Olympian Zeus

Construction of this colossal temple began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisioned building the greatest temple in the ancient world. However, the project was abandoned after the overthrow of Hippias, remaining unfinished for centuries as a symbol of hubris. It was not until the Hellenistic period and later the Roman era that work resumed in earnest, with various rulers attempting to complete the massive structure to cement their own legacies. Finally, in 131 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian completed the temple, nearly seven hundred years after the first stone was laid. Hadrian, a great philhellene, dedicated the temple to Zeus Olympios and erected a giant gold and ivory statue of the god inside the cella, alongside an equally large statue of himself. At its peak, the temple featured 104 Corinthian columns, each standing 17 meters tall, making it one of the largest religious monuments ever constructed in Greece. Following the glory of Hadrian's reign, the temple's decline was swift. It was badly damaged during a barbarian invasion in 267 AD and was never fully repaired. During the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, the temple served as a convenient quarry for building materials. Much of its precious Pentelic marble was hauled away to construct local houses and churches, or burnt in kilns to produce lime, leaving only 15 columns standing upright today, with a 16th lying in segments on the ground.