The Temple of Olympian Zeus or Olympeion is a colossal ruined temple in the center of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis. Construction began in the 515 B.C. under the rule of Peisistratos the Young who was seeking to build the largest temple in the world. The temple was finished in 124/125 A.D. under the rule of Hadrian. Its glory was short lived as it was pillaged during a barbarian invasion in the 3rd Century A.D. and never restored since. In the following centuries the temple was quarried and parts of it were used as building material.
The Temple was composed of some 104 Corinthian columns, 17 meters high, of which only 15 remain standing. Hadrian had erected a huge statue of Zeus in gold and ivory but nothing has remained to this day.
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