Ancient Olympia
Olympia is an Greece ancient city full of charm and history which owes its fame to having been a place of worship of great importance and where the Olympic Games were held for the Olympics, an event that unified all the Greek polis despite the continuous internal struggles.
The Classical Greece center is located in the Elis Region on the Peloponnese, west coast, about a hundred kilometers from the Patras port. Olympia nestled in a valley along the Alpheus river at the foot of Mount Cronos, is surrounded by hills and dense woods rich in vegetation.Today it has become one of the obligatory destinations when deciding on a trip to Greece through the Peloponnese and offers all the comforts for a complete holiday.You will be able to find numerous accommodations, events to take part in to catapult you into the past, trendy taverns and restaurants, shops, pubs and bars in short, you will definitely not miss anything.
It was discovered in 1776 by the English archaeologist Richard Chandler who together with the expedition were the first to bring to light the ruins of the ancient city.The French followed in 1829 and between 1875 and 1881 the Germans who found the plans of many buildings. In the past, Olympia had great importance as the cradle of the Olympics which according to the findings were born in 776 BC and it was Eratosthenes, Hellenistic geographer who was the first to calculate the circumference of our planet and set the first date. They were announced as a religious-sports festival which saw the meeting of all the Greeks with the power to even put an end to all the ongoing wars. Symbol of the games is the Olympic flame which represents the light of the path when the games are opened and in front of the Hera temple the priestesses (now extras are used) with period costumes light the sacred flame still with the ancient method which consists inexploit the sun, a concave container and a cylindrical parabolic mirror where the rays reflected at the center of the container generate heat to the point of lighting the fire.
The Olympia site was frequented since the Neolithic period between 4300 and 3100 BC and over time it has increasingly expanded with spectacular monuments.It included a sacred enclosure called Altis (sacred forest) 200 meters long and 177 meters wide in an elevated position compared to the other buildings where the most important monuments stood inside. On the left there was the stadium and the racecourse while on the right the gym and the gymnasium.The Temple of Olympia built in honor of Zeus the father of Gods and men venerated in the Peloponnese is at the center of everything and was embellished with arches, statues, pedestals and small temples. Inside there was the imposing statue of Zeus considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the work of Phidias, the brilliant sculptor and architect who also supervised the Parthenon in Athens.
And again the Heraion dedicated to the Goddess Hera, official wife of Zeus, one of the best preserved buildings where the laurel wreaths for the winners of the games were kept, the beautiful statue of Hermes by Praxiteles, an indescribable masterpiece of ancient Greece which depicts the God leaningto a tree trunk that gently cradles the newborn Dionysus in his left hand, the twelve votive temples called Thesauroi where the treasures of the cities participating in the games were kept.
The ancient stadium where athletic competitions were held had a majestic arch at the entrance and supporters of athletes from all walks of life gathered.However, women could not participate in this performance, it was exclusive only for men.
In the Museum of Olympia you can also admire dozens of other finds from the site ranging from the prehistoric to the proto Christian era such as the Nike of Peoni or the friezes of the Zeus temple with the representation of the chariot races of Oenomas and Pelops.