Temple of Olympian Zeus

The construction of this temple started in the 6th century BC and its designs were appointed to the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides, and Porinus. At first, it was intended to be built out of limestone in the austere Doric style and its size was to be the hugest of all temples. However, the works stopped in 510 BC due to political disorders, when the tyrant Hippias was exiled from Athens.

The temple remained incomplete for the next 336 years. In 174 BC, the king Antiochus IV Epiphanes started the reconstruction of the temple, replacing the building material from limestone to high-quality Pentelic marble and the architectural style from Doric to Corinthian. In fact, it was the first time that the Corinthian order was used for the exterior decoration of a temple. However, when Antiochus died, the project remained again unfinished.

In 125 BC, the Roman emperor Hadrian included this temple in his Athens building programme. Many statues of gods and Roman emperors adorned the temple, including an enormous chryselephantine statue of Zeus. In its final form, the temple had 104 columns of 17 m high each and 2 m in diameter each.

The temple suffered over the centuries and much of its material was re-used in other buildings so that today only 15 of the temple's columns are still standing, 2 in the south-west corner and 13 at the south-east corner. One other column collapsed as recently as 1852 CE in a storm and now lies across the site with its column drums picturesquely spread along a perfect line.