If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 477

 

 

 

 

Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens, Greece, ca 1960s

 

The photograph on this unused postcard is credited to the Greek National Tourist Office.  The card was distributed by Curteichcolor, 3-D Natural Color Reproduction.  The number 7 appears the upper right corner on the reverse.  There is also a short blurb stating “Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens, was regarded as one of the wonders of the ancient world comparable to the pyramids.”

 

An open-air museum today, the temple ruins are supervised and protected by the Ephorate of Antiquities.  Construction on the temple began in 6^th century BC. and was not completed until the 2^nd century AD, about 638 years later due to interruptions in the construction.  At one point it remained in an unfinished state for over 300 years.  When work was resumed it was under the direction of the Roman architect Decimus Cossutius who made alterations to the original design and used expensive marble instead of local limestone as the building material. 

 

Once the largest temple in Greece, originally there were 104 colossal columns and one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.  In the 2^nd century Pausanias [in Description of Greece 1. 18. 6-9] mentioned the temple having a huge statue of the Roman Emperor Hadrian at the entry to the temple.  He also said this statue rivaled the colossi at Rhodes and described it as made of ivory and gold.  Additional statues made of stone, bronze, and marble were placed within the structure. 

 

  Glory was short lived; however, as it fell into disuse and was pillaged during a barbarian invasion in 247 AD.  Likely it was never repaired and was reduced to ruins.  After the fall of the Roman Empire the site was quarried for building materials to be used elsewhere in the city.  Sixteen of the original giant columns remain today.  It is still an important archaeological site in Greece. 

 

The temple ruins are located about 500 meters (0.31 miles) south-east of the Acropolis and about 700 meters (0.43 miles) south of the center of Athens, the foundations were laid on the site of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Olympian_Zeus,_Athens