Naos tou Olympiou Dios and its forest of marble columns in Athen

Naos tou Olympiou Dios, better known in English as the Temple of Olympian Zeus, spreads a broad grid of marble columns across central Athen where the ancient sanctuary meets the modern city. Begun in the sixth century BC and completed under Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD, it compresses centuries of Greek and Roman history into a single ruined colonnade.

A colossal temple on the edge of the Acropolis rock

Naos tou Olympiou Dios stands south-east of the Acropolis rock, on ground that slopes gently towards the course of the Ilissos river and the lowlands of central Athens.Located south-east of Athens' acropolis From most points inside the enclosure the Acropolis appears behind the surviving columns, so the sanctuary reads as part of a wider sacred landscape rather than an isolated monument.

The temple dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, was laid out as a colossal Corinthian structure with a long rectangular ground plan ringed by tall marble columns.The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens In its completed form in the second century AD it was one of the largest temples of the ancient Mediterranean, a building whose scale still registers even in ruin.

From Peisistratos to Hadrian: a project across six centuries

The sanctuary’s long building history begins in the sixth century BC under the Peisistratid tyrants, when work began on a grand Doric temple in the area south-east of the Acropolis.Construction of the temple started in the 6th century BC That early project stalled when Hippias was expelled from Athens in 510 BC, leaving foundations and partial structures that later generations would revisit.

In the Hellenistic period King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria revived the scheme and brought in the Roman architect Decimus Cossutius, who redesigned the building in the Corinthian order and specified Pentelic marble for the superstructure.Pentelic marble and the Corinthian order The project reached completion only under the Roman emperor Hadrian in the early second century AD, more than six centuries after the first attempt to monumentalise the sanctuary.Completed by Roman emperor Hadrian in 131 CE

A forest of surviving columns in an open archaeological field

In antiquity Naos tou Olympiou Dios carried 104 Corinthian columns, each rising to around 17 m (about 55 ft) in height and topped by lavish capitals and a continuous entablature.Original columns and their height Today a group of tall columns stands in roughly two parallel files, with one collapsed column lying as a sequence of drums on the ground, making the structure of each shaft legible at close range.

The archaeological site extends over an open, roughly rectangular enclosure where paths cross patches of grass and low stone remains marking the former temple platform. From within this open field the surviving columns frame views of the Acropolis, modern apartment blocks and the traffic of central Athens, so every angle pairs ancient marble with contemporary street life. Smaller remains in the enclosure hint at subsidiary structures in the sanctuary, but the eye is drawn repeatedly back to the outsized scale of the main colonnade and the way the columns stand in relation to the surrounding city grid.

Visiting Naos tou Olympiou Dios: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Naos tou Olympiou Dios lies in central Athen south-east of the Acropolis and roughly south of Syntagma Square, close to the course of the Ilissos river and major city streets.
• The interior of the archaeological enclosure is largely level but covered with gravel paths and patches of uneven ground, and there are stretches where visitors walk over exposed stone blocks.
• The site stands within sight of the Acropolis Museum and other central landmarks, so a visit to Naos tou Olympiou Dios can be combined with walks through neighbouring quarters of central Athens.
• The official language is Greek and the currency is the euro.

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Frequently asked questions about Naos tou Olympiou Dios

Where is Naos tou Olympiou Dios in Athen?

Naos tou Olympiou Dios stands in central Athen south-east of the Acropolis rock, near the course of the Ilissos river and not far from Syntagma Square.

What does a visit to Naos tou Olympiou Dios involve?

A visit centres on walking through an open archaeological enclosure with surviving marble columns and low stone remains, with long views towards both the Acropolis and modern streets.

What makes Naos tou Olympiou Dios distinctive among ancient sites in Athens?

The temple combines an unusually large Corinthian colonnade in Pentelic marble with a building history that stretches from the sixth century BC to the reign of Emperor Hadrian.