Temple of Olympian Zeus tour: The great debt
A fascinating self-guided audio walking tour at Olympieion, the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens (also known as Columns of the Olympian Zeus) with credible & original stories written by top local professionals. Take your tour now & enjoy it instantly on your smartphone device.
"The great debt: the Olympieion, Athens" is a tour literally inundated in myth and stories about the great tyrants, kings, emperors, and architects that struggled for six centuries to complete one of the largest temples ever built in ancient Greece. As you first approach the Great Propylon, you will learn all about the Great Flood that Zeus unleashed when a king of the Bronze Race served him a nice pot of his own son. Then, as you stand in the shade of the majestic columns at the SE corner of the temple you can try to understand the sense of awe felt by emperors and common people who witnessed this forest of marble rising from the ground to the heavens above. The nondescript lines of stones on the terrace south of the temple are steeped in mythology. Theseus, the legendary hero of Athens, proved here that he was no innocent marriageable virgin. At the NW corner you can muse on the vanity of all human endeavour. After all there are only 15 columns left standing where once there were 104. Finally, you have a wonderful chance to learn about the passion of ancient Athenians and Romans for baths, whether hot or cold, in the old balaneion. Many philosophers spent time and effort in the bath and when you are in Athens you might as well do as the Athenians did.
#history #mythology
1. The Great Flood
Spring cleaning is an annual practice that delivers a neat house. Zeus was in this peculiar state of mind when he declared that the earth itself was in urgent need of a thorough cleaning. Man and beast paid the price.
2. Sic transit gloria mundi
Thus passes the glory of the world. The colossal masterpiece of Hadrian's time seems to have vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a handful of columns and a wealth of stories. How can it be?
3. From the bath, in form like immortals
Sylvia Plath could not think of a thing that a hot bath won't cure. The Roman bathhouse was built during the reign of Hadrian (124-132 CE) and served the Athenians for 500 years.
Boundless floods
The Great Flood
All the river gods rushed to help Zeus. The rapid streams and rivers carried grain, groves, houses, sheep, and temples towards the deep unfruitful sea. Any mansions that remained, being too big to be carried away, were covered by the waves. Desperate men and women were swept away; tigers, lions, wolves, and boars floated amidst the surging waves. All to no avail for soon there was nothing to be seen but a vast sea without a shore. In this watery chaos floated Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, who survived in a chest built by him on the advice of his father, Prometheus. When their chest touched solid ground after nine days at sea, they were the only surviving pair of humans.
The temple must have given the impression of a stone forest with its 104 columns reaching a height of 17 meters (each being two meters in diameter). But they were not to last. As Christianity replaced the old religion, the temple fell into disrepair and was eventually abandoned. The stones and the columns were reused in other building projects, while the gold and ivory statues vanished without a trace. When Cyriacus of Ancona, an itinerant Italian humanist and antiquarian, visited Athens in 1436, he saw only 21 columns still standing. In 1759, when there were only 17 columns left, the Ottoman governor of Athens pulled one of them down to make lime for the Tzistarakis Mosque in Monastiraki Square.
A bath for everyone
From the bath, in form like immortals
The Romans were fans of the public bath, but they preferred the sweat version. There was an initial meeting space (atrium) where an attendant extracted payment for the use of the baths. The price depended on the patron's wealth, with the poor often entering for free. The semicircular room next to the atrium is an artificial grotto with fountains and statues (Nymphaeum), richly decorated with geometrical mosaics. Then came the equally elaborately adorned changing room (apodyterium), where patrons could change out of and into their clothing. There were cubbies for storing items and pegs on the walls for hanging clothes. Slaves monitored the items left by the patrons to prevent thefts.
Leof. Vasilissis Olgas 2, Athina 105 57
Temple of Olympieion Zeus
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Zappeion
Temple of Olympieion Zeus: 8.00-15:00 | Last entrance: 14:30
Additional admission
General admission: €6
By clicking "Add to cart", you are purchasing this tour in English. This tour is also available in the following languages: Ελληνικά.
5 stops, 20 stories
Buy this tour and explore 5 fascinating sites.