elysian: 2017

elysian

KALIKANTZAROI-THE GREEK GOBLINS

15:05:00

archaeology

LA ESFINGE GRIEGA

22:00:00

archaeology

WHEN ARROGANCE GENERATES BEAUTY...

15:38:00

Passing by Amalias avenue it's impossible not to notice the huge Columns of the Olympian Zeus! Located south- east of Athens' acropolis, near the river Ilissos, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion would become the largest temple the city had ever seen…

The building of the temple actually began in the 6th century by the tyrant Peisistratus, but the project has never been completed. The Greeks of the classical period left it unfinished because they believed it was too big and symbolized the arrogance of people who believed they were equal to the Gods. Aristotle in his “Politics” cited the temple as an example of how tyrannies engaged the populace in great works for the state and left them no time, energy or means to rebel.

However, the temple was not finished until the emperor Hadrian, the great philhellene, finally brought to completion one of the biggest ever ancient temples in 131 AD, 638 years after the project had begun! Hadrian dedicated the colossal marble temple to Zeus after he associated himself with the father of the gods and adopted the title of “Olympios”. So he erected a giant gold and ivory status of Zeus inside the temple with an equally large one of himself next to it. Nothing remains of the interior of the temple. Nearby the columns stands the Arch of Hadrian which was erected in 132 AD as a gate between the ancient city and the Roman city of Athens.

In the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, the temple was extensively quarried for building materials to supply building projects elsewhere in the city. Today only 15 of the 104 temple’s Corinthian columns (17 meters high) are still standing. One of the columns actually blew down in a storm in 1852 and it is still lying where it fell.

In the early 1800s, a “stylite” (the word comes from the Greek “stylos” for column and refers to the group of ascetics who spent long periods standing on the top of columns) built his dwelling on top of one of the columns of the temple. This unusual incident can be seen in early paintings and drawings.