Athens, Greece
(Unknown / School of Archaeology, University of Oxford)
Originally conceived by the sons of the tyrant Peisistratus to be the greatest temple in the known world, construction of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, at the center of Athens, began in the sixth century BCE. However, it was not completed until six centuries had elapsed. Just 100 years later, ransacked by barbarian hordes, it fell into disrepair, and began its path to ruin.
Aristotle, in his Politics, had used the temple as an example of the way tyrannical governments prevent rebellion by generating vast civic projects to engage – and exhaust – the people’s time, energy and efforts.
On completion, the temple had 104 pillars. In this photograph, fifteen remain. One pillar was brought to the ground by gales in 1852. During the 1890s, when this picture was taken, the temple had been excavated by British archaeologist Francis Penrose, then in his late seventies.
‘There is perhaps nevertheless among all the remains of antiquity no ruin more impressive than that composed by the gigantic columns of the temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens. The ruins stand quite alone.’
An Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Architecture, Francis Penrose, 1888
