The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Olympeion) is the largest ancient temple in Greece. It is located in Athens just 500m from the Acropolis. The construction of this huge temple begun in 515 B.C. by the tyrant Peisistratos, but was soon abandoned. In 174 B.C. Antiochos IV Epiphanes, started building the temple again but after his death in 163 B.C. the works stopped once more. Finally, in 131 Roman Emperor Hadrian managed to complete the temple. The temple measures 96m X 40m and it had 104 corinthian columns, each 17m high. Only 15 remain in their place today, alongside with another one which fell during a storm in 1852.

Uploaded by dimitsal 14/05/2008 19:14:54