Athens Budget Hotels

The Temple of Zeus. In about 500 m to the south of the Acropolis the Temple of Zeus (or as it's usually called the Olympion) is situated. The temple was worked at for several centures and only in the 2nd century (during the reign of imperator Adrian) it was complitely built. At those times the Temple of Zeus was the largest building in whole Greece, its length came to 96m, it's width was 40m, the building was decorated by 104 17-metered Corinthian columns, to our time only the ruins of the 15th and 16th columns remained. Even before the building of temple was finished Roman general Sulla took 2 columns to Rome, so as to decorate the Temple of Jupiter with them, after it Corinthian style became very popular in Rome.

Imperator Adrian built the Greek temple in favor of Zeus. By his order in the temple an enormous statue of Zeus was placed. The statue of Zeus was decorated with gold and ivory by the way near Zeus there was the statue of the imperator, which actually had the same height. In immediate proximity to the temple a 18-metered marble arch of Adrian is located, it's the symbol of the power of the imperator. The arch of Adrian divides the New Rome and the Ancient Rome, the title on the side that faces the Acropolis says: 'This is Athens, the ancient town of Theseus', and on the other side it's written: 'This town is not of Theseus, but of Adrian'.
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