Olympia, Greece (Ολυμπία)

Dear Family and Friends,

After a brief stop in Bari in southern Italy, we headed for our first destination in Greece, the port of Katakolon near Olympia. After the ship docked around noon, we picked up our rental car and began the half hour drive to Olympia. Due to weeks of rain that only abated on the day we arrived, the area was very green and tropical.

Shield Decoration - 650 B.C.

Once in Olypia, we decided to visit the Ancient Olypia Musuem before heading to the archiological site in order to avoid the cruiseship tour groups. This musuem houses most of the important relects recovered throughout the years in Olypia, including statues, household items, and bronze war implements like this shield decoration.


Ancient Greek Helmets

The museum also had a very large collection of ancient Greek helmets. One helmet is reportedly that of the Greek General Miltiades, who defeated the Persians in the war of Marathon and then offered it to Zeus as a sign of gratitude for the victory.


Sculptures from the Temple of Zeus - 500 B.C.

Olympia is famous for being the site of two things - the original Olympic games that ran from 776 B.C. to around 400 A.D. and  the statue of Zeus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. On either side of the Temple of Zeus were pediments, or the triangular area between the columns and the roof, that were filled with marble sculptures. Here, Perithoos, the king of the Lapidths, which represented the civility and order of the Greeks, drives off the centaurs, who represented primitive societies, as they try to abduct the Lapidth women.

Nicolas and Waterspout from Temple of Zeus

Lion-headed water spouts were placed at intervals along the lenghs of the temple. It's difficult to imagine that these stones were carved almost 500 years before the birth of Christ! Many of these spouts lay strewn randomly about the temple site along with the other pieces of the ancient structure.

Nathaniel on ruins of the Temple of Zeus

Unfortunately, nothing remains of the ancient gold statue of Zeus; it was reportedly either carried off to Constantinople or consumed in a fire. Nevertheless, archiologists have excavated the workshop used to create the statue and have found molds and other tools that have provided evidence of how it was constructed.

Column Sections from Temple of Zeus

The remainder of the building was destroyed by the Romans and various earthquakes over the centuries. It wasn't until 1766 that the old city was discovered and excavation began. While a few columns have been re-constructed in order to provide visitors with an idea of the size and grandure of the original structure, most of the temple is spread over a couple of acres. Nevertheless, once can easily see how the limestone columns were carved in segments, assembled using a peg in the center, and covered in stucco to give the appearance of marble.

Doric Column Capital

The temple was built in the doric style, as evidenced by this simple round column capital that lays upside down. Before going on the trip, Julie taught us about the main styles of doric, ionic, and corithian in order to help us all identify the periods to which ancient buildings belonged.

Location of the Original Olympic Caldurn

Olypia still remains connected with the Olympics. Since the modern Olympics were began in 1894, officials come here to light the flame at the site of the original coldurn before transporting it to the venue at the commencement of each games.

One area of the site that was particularly interesting for us was the Olympic stadium. The original marble starting block still remains imbedded in the ground on one side of the field. Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel decided to run the route of the ancient Olympians, though certainly at a much slower pace and with more clothes (the first olympians ran naked).

Greek Friends

Before heading back to the ship, we stopped in town to do some shopping. While Joe was haggling over the prices of bronze statuettes, Elyse and Nathaniel made friends with a local girl and her grandma, who gave them some just-picked oranges. After Joe finally finished his business, Julie remarked that she was freaked out that all of the other tourists in town had left. Having not watched the clock carefully enough, Joe tried to make up time by speeding back to the port. We were all quite happy to see the boat still docked when we arrived back in Katakolon!

Joe, Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel