and the adjacent building would have been a convenient lodging
for the artists.
4. South of the group described above occur the remains of a large building shown by its inscription to be the Leonidaeum, dedicated by an Elean named Leonidas in the 4th century B.C., and probably intended for the reception of distinguished visitors during the games, such as the heads of the special missions from the various Greek cities. It is an oblong, of which the north and south sides measure about 250 ft., the east and west about 230. Its orientation differs from that of all the other buildings above mentioned, being not from N. to S., but from W.S.W. to E.N.E. Externally it is an Ionic peripteros, enclosing suites of rooms, large and small, grouped round a small interior Doric peristyle. In Roman times it was altered in such a way as to distribute the rooms into (apparently) four quarters, each having an atrium with six or four columns. Traces existing within the exterior porticos on north, west and east indicate much carriage traffic.
B. South Side.—Although the limits of the Altis on the south (i.e. on the side towards the Alpheus) can be traced with approximate accuracy, the precise line of the south wall becomes doubtful after we have advanced a little more than one-third of the distance from the west to the east end of the south side. The middle and eastern portions of the south side were places at which architectural changes, large or small, were numerous down to the latest times, and where the older buildings met with scant mercy.
1. The Council Hall (Bouleuterium, Paus. v. 23) was just outside the Altis, nearly at the middle of its south wall. It comprised two separate Doric buildings of different date but identical form, viz. oblong, having a single row of columns dividing the length into two naves and terminating to the west in a semicircular apse. The orientation of each was from west-south-west to east-north-east, one being south-south-east of the other. In the space between stood a small square building. In front, on the east, was a portico extending along the front of all three buildings; and east of this again a large trapeze-shaped vestibule or fore-hall, enclosed by a colonnade. This bouleuterium would have been available on all occasions when Olympia became the scene of conference or debate between the representatives of different states—whether the subject was properly political, as concerning the amphictyonic treaties, or related more directly to the administration of the sanctuary and festival. Two smaller Hellenic buildings stood immediately west of the bouleuterium. The more northerly of the two opened on the Altis. Their purpose is uncertain.
2. Close to the bouleuterium on the south, and running parallel with it from south-west by west to north-east by east, was the South Colonnade, a late but handsome structure, closed on the north side, open on the south and at the east and west ends. The external colonnade (on south, east and west) was Doric; the interior row of columns Corinthian. It was used as a promenade, and as a place from which to view the festal processions as they passed towards the Altis.
3. East of the bouleuterium was a triumphal gateway of Roman age, with triple entrance, the central being the widest, opening on the Altis from the south. North of this gateway, but at a somewhat greater depth, traces of a pavement were found in the Altis.
C. East Side.—The line of the east wall, running due north and south, can be traced from the north-east corner of the Altis down about three-fifths of the east side, when it breaks off at the remains known as “Nero's house.” These are the first which claim attention on the east side.
1. To the south-east of the Altis is a building of 4th-century date and of uncertain purpose. This was afterwards absorbed into a Roman house which projected beyond the Altis on the east, the south part of the east Altis wall being destroyed to admit of this. A piece of leaden water-pipe found in the house bears NER. AVG. Only a Roman master could have dealt thus with the Altis, and with a building which stood within its sacred precinct. It cannot be doubted that the Roman house—from which three doors gave access to the Altis—was that occupied by Nero when he visited Olympia. Later Roman hands I again enlarged and altered the building, which may perhaps have been used for the reception of Roman governors.
2. Following northwards the line of the east wall, we reach at the north-east corner of the Altis the entrance to the Stadium, which extends east of the Altis in a direction from west-south-west to east-north-east. The apparently strange and inconvenient position of the Stadium relatively to the Altis was due simply to the necessity of obeying the conditions of the ground, here determined by the curve of the lowc slopes which bound the valley on the north. The German explorers excavated the Stadium so far as was necessary for the ascertainment of all essential points. Low embankments had originally been built on west, east and south, the north boundary being formed by the natural slope of the hill. These were afterwards thickened and raised. The space thus defined was a large oblong, about 234 yds. in length by 35 in breadth. There were no artificial seats. It is computed that from 40,000 to 45,000 spectators could have found sitting-room, though it is hardly probable that such a number was ever reached. The exact length of the Stadium itself—which was primarily the course for the foot-race—was about 210 yds. or 192·27 metres—an important result, as it determines the Olympian foot to be 0·3204 metre or a little more than an English foot (1·05). In the Heraeum at Olympia, it may be remarked, the unit adopted was not this Olympian foot, but an older one of 0·297 metre, and in the temple of Zeus an Attic foot of 1·08 English foot was used. The starting-point and the goal in the Stadium were marked by limestone thresholds. Provision for drainage was made by a channel running round the enclosure. The Stadium was used not only for foot-races, but for boxing, wrestling, leaping, quoit-throwing and javelin-throwing.
The entrance to the Stadium from the north-east corner of the Altis was a privileged one, reserved for the judges of the games, the competitors and the heralds. Its form was that of a vaulted tunnel, 100 Olympian feet in length. It was probably constructed in Roman times. To the west was a vestibule, from which the Altis was entered by a handsome gateway.
3. The Hippodrome, in which the chariot-races and horse-races were held, can no longer be accurately traced. The overflowing of the Alpheus have washed away all certain indications of its limits. But it is clear that it extended south and south-east of the Stadium, and roughly parallel with it, though stretching far beyond it to the east. From the state of the ground the German explorers inferred that the length of the hippodrome was 770 metres or 4 Olympic stadia.
D. North Side.—If the northern limit of the Altis, like the west, south and east, had been traced by a boundary wall, this would have had the effect of excluding from the precinct a spot so sacred as the Cronion, “Hill of Cronus,” inseparably associated with the oldest worship of Zeus at Olympia. It seems therefore unlikely that any such northern boundary wall ever existed. But the line which such a boundary would have followed is partly represented by the remains of a wall running from east to west immediately north of the treasure-houses (see below), which it was designed to protect against the descent of earth from the Cronion just above. This was the wall along which, about A.D. 157, the main water-channel constructed by Herodes Atticus was carried.
Having now surveyed the chief remains external to the sacred precinct on west, south, east and north, we proceed to notice those which have been traced within it.
II.—Remains within the Altis
The form of the Altis, as indicated by the existing traces, is not regularly rectangular. The length of the west side, where the line of direction is from south-south-east to north-north-west, is about 215 yds. The south side, running nearly due east and west, is about equally long, if measured from the end of the west wall to the point which the east wall would touch when produced due south in a straight line from the place at which it was demolished to make way for “Nero’s house.” The east side, measured to a point just behind the treasure-houses, is the shortest, about 200 yds. The north side is the longest. A line drawn eastward behind the treasure-houses, from the Prytaneum at the north-west angle, would give about 275 yds.
The remains or sites within the Altis may conveniently be classed in three main groups, viz.—(A) the chief centres of religious worship; (B) votive buildings; (C) buildings, &c., connected with the administration of Olympia or the reception of visitors.
A. Chief Centres of Religious Worship.—1. There are traces of an altar near the Heraeum which was probably older than the great altar of Zeus; this was probably the original centre of worship. The great altar of Zeus was of elliptic form, the length of the lozenge being directed from south-south-west to north-north-east, in such a manner that the axis would pass through the Cronion. The upper structure imposed on this basis was in two tiers, and also, probably, lozenge-shaped. This was the famous “ash-altar” at which the Iamidae, the hereditary gens of seers, practised those rights of divination by fire in virtue of which more especially Olympia is saluted by Pindar as “mistress of truth.” The steps by which the priests mounted the altar seem to have been at north and south.
2. The Pelopium, to the west of the Altar of Zeus, was a small precinct in which sacrifices were offered to the hero Pelops. The traces agree with the account of Pausanias. Walls, inclined to each other at obtuse angles, enclosed a plot of ground having in the middle a low tumulus of elliptic form, about 35 metres from east to west by 20 from north to south. A Doric propylon with three doors gave access on the south-west side.
The three temples of the Altis were those of Zeus, Hera and the Mother of the gods. All were Doric. All, too, were completely surrounded by a colonnade, i.e. were “peripteral.”
3. The Temple of Zeus, south of the Pelopium, stood on a high substructure with three steps. It was probably built about 470 B.C. The colonnades at the east and west side were of six columns each; those at the north and south sides (counting the corner columns again) of thirteen each. The cella had a prodomos on the east and an opisthodomos on the west. The cella itself was divided longitudinally (i.e. from east to west) into three partitions by a double row of columns. The central partition, which was the widest, consisted of three sections. The west section contained the throne and image of the Olympian Zeus. The middle section, next to the east, which was shut off by low screens, contained a table and stelae. Here, probably, the wreaths were presented to the victors.
