Temple of Zeus

From the central Syntagma square, where we visited some time ago, the ruins of the Temple of Zeus are just a stone’s throw away. You need to go “down,” as the Greeks say, past the current building of the Greek Parliament to Hadrian’s Arch. It’s only 300 meters.

The Temple of Zeus was the most grandiose temple in ancient Athens. It stands on a sacred site called “temenos”. They began to build the temple during the time of the tyrant Pisistratus, but did not have time to finish it. Construction was resumed only in 174 AD. by order of the Syrian king Antiochus 1X Epiphanes, who entrusted these works to the Roman architect Cossutius. But even after the death of this king, the grandiose structure remained unfinished. It is curious that if at first the columns of the temple began to be made in the Doric order, then they switched to the Ionic order.

After the defeat of Athens in 86 AD. By the troops of the Roman Emperor Sulla, several columns, on his orders, were taken to Rome, where they decorated the Capitol. The Temple of Zeus was consecrated only under the Emperor Hadrian, a passionate admirer of all things Greek, in 129.

Now little remains of the once magnificent structure. Of the hundred columns, only 15 have survived, which stand on a three-stage pedestal. Everything else has been turned to dust and ashes over the centuries.
Directly opposite the remains of the Temple of Zeus is the already mentioned Arch of Hadrian, which in the 11th century served as a gate in the wall separating the old city from the new one, built by Emperor Hadrian. This is evidenced by two surviving inscriptions on the facade of the arch.

On the side facing the Acropolis it is written: “Here is Athens, the old city of Theseus.” And on the other side: “Here is the city of Hadrian, not Theseus.” The arch is made of blocks of magnificent, but already badly damaged by time Pendeli (it was mined in Pendeli) marble, cut through by a vaulted span.

Now, directly opposite Hadrian’s Arch, there is the entrance to the ancient quarter of Plaka, a favorite place for evening entertainment for Athenians and visiting tourists. The dusty area surrounding the ruins of the Temple of Zeus adjoins on one side the royal garden, planted near the building of the former royal palace, now the parliament.

There are many strange trees in the garden, planted in the 19th century, when the “queen of all Hellenes” was the Russian princess Olga Nikolaevna – the daughter of the second son of Emperor Nicholas 1, married at a young age to the Danish prince George, whom the allied powers – England, France and Russia – placed on the Greek throne.

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