Olympia

Probably everyone in the world heard about the ancient Greek city of Olympia. This is not surprising, since this is the home of the first Olympic Games.


However no one knows who invented the most important sport event in the history of mankind. It is also unknown when the first sport competitions were held. We only know the date of the first "official" Olympiad - 776 BC.

The Games were held in honor of the god Zeus, whose cult was established in Olympia by an ancient Greek tribe of Aeolians. However at that time there was no main temple of Zeus in Greece. In 470 BC in Olympia began to collect donations for the construction of the temple and in 456 BC it was built.

20 years later the famous ancient Greek sculptor Phidias created the statue of Zeus inside the temple. It became one of the seven wonders of the world.


Its height was at least 12 meters and it was covered with 200 kilograms of gold and gems. Ancient legends about the statue were confirmed by archaeological finds that showed the existence of a Phidias workshop 80 meters from the temple.


At the moment, only the foundation remains. You can see it on the next picture to the right, with a lonely pyramid.


The fate of the statue of Zeus is unknown. The Romans, after adopting Christianity, plundered and closed all "pagan temples" in Greece. Temple of Zeus at Olympia was burned and destroyed by earthquakes.

In the foreground on the previous photo is Leonideon, the ancient Olympic Village. The competition itself consisted of traditional sports, the most popular of which was running, held at the stadium. It was discovered after archeologists excavated a starting strip.




Behind the stadium there was a huge hippodrome, but it was not excavated. Probably due to the huge size (700 meters by 300 meters).


In general Olympia is not only an archaeological site, but simply a beautiful place. We recommend visiting it, especially in the spring when there are flowers everywhere.






On the territory of the archaeological complex there is a large museum, which houses all the findings, first of all the perfectly preserved ancient statues.

Find here opening hours and ticket prices.
We also recommend to watch this documentary about the first Olympics.

Getting there: parking in front of the entrance N 37 38.450 E 21 37.564. There are no direct buses from Athens (Kifissos Bus Station). You have to take the bus to Pyrgos (4 hours) and then transfer to the local bus to Olympia. Pyrgos can be reached from all major cities of Greece.