The Heraion creates great excitement for me as its shows a clear translation of wood to stone within temple architecture. The original wooden columns were gradually replaced, at long intervals, by stone ones. The last wooden one, made of oak, was preserved to the time of Pausanias (who saw the temple of Hera when he travelled around the Mediterranean and recorded his sights in a book) in the opisthodomos of the temple. Each of the replacement columns was in the style of its own period, so that the columns, all of a different diameter, as a whole provided an example of the development of the Doric columns. This I find most impressive as the architecture used provides a lot of personal history in its self. The stone translation also gives the Heraion a lot of character too, especially as the translation was very new. The Greeks didn’t trust the stone so they built walls as well as the columns to hold the roof. This explains the reason for the Heraion’s short partition walls in between columns. Two rows of four columns in the naos alternated with these partition walls. People have suggested that within theses alcoves the people of Olympia had put up framed portraits of the winners in the Athletics held there.
The Heraion and the temple of Zeus are both of the standards Doric order, different to the Philippeion, which is rather exquisite compared, in the Ionic order. In the temple of Hera, the lower part of the naos walls were made of shell-limestone and the upper part of mud brick. The naos was entered by a double door 2.9 m wide however this was destroyed by an earthquake in c. 4 A.D. The Doric entablature was of wood with terracotta revetment and terracotta tiles. The central circular acroiterion, of terracotta and is 2.3 metres in diameter, had impressive painted decoration.
At the western end of the naos was a platform. This is where Hera’s cult statue was, but as the society built it became increasing more male dominated resulting in a cult statue of Zeus being put alongside her. The cult statues in the Heraion were early archaic, or as Pausanias puts it: ‘simple-minded’. Then society becomes even more patriarchal leading to the building of ‘The Temple of Zeus’.
The gigantic temple of Zeus, a Doric peripteral temple from the early classical period (c. 470-457 B.C) was erected in the southern part of the Altis to commemorate the Elean defeat of the Pisatans in 470 B.C. The temple itself (27.68 x 64.12 m; 6 x 13 columns) was the work of the Elian architect Libon. I think the temple of Zeus is particularly impressive in comparison to the Heraion and the Philippeion which it dwarfs. For example, the dimesion of the temples stylobate was huge compared to a mere 15.3 m base which the Philippeion stands on.
The heights of the external columns are 10.84m with their diameters at a staggering 2.25 m. The dimensions are so because Libon wanted to represent Zeus’ power. There are 34 columns in all and they are quite remarkable. The capitals were topped with rich gold, blue and red paints. There were over 100 lion- headed water spouts which channelled the rain water away from the roof. This was thought to have been influenced by the Heraion. The columns were constructed of marble; only the roof was made out of pentelic marble. Everything else was made out of the local shell-limestone and was covered in stucco to make it look like marble.
The temple had magnificent pediments, 80 feet long, 10 feet high and 3 feet deep. The sculptures on these pediments are best preserved of this era and all the figures on the pediments are 1.5 m x life size. There are twelve metopes, six over the pronaos and six over the opisthodomos. These metopes show the twelve labour of Hercules, the west pediment has the battle between the centaurs and the lapiths. The east pediment shows Pelops and the chariot race.The central acroterion at each pediment was a gilded Nike, the work of Paionios, and the corner acroteria were gilded cauldrons. I think this is impressive because these pediments carry character and a story to tell, the entertainment of the Greeks.
Behind opisthodomos grew the wild olive tree which the ancient Greeks took branches from to make crowns for the Olympic winners. The Visitors were allowed inside the temple. In the naos there were three aisles, this is also where the chryselephantine statue of Zeus is stood. The statue was made by Pheidais in c. 430 B.C. The enthroned statue of Zeus was 12 m high, and his implied size was greater: if he ever stood up he would raise the roof. He was crowned with wild olive, like the Olympic victors. The gigantic figure held in his right hand a chryselephantine Nike and in his left a scepter. Every part of the thrown was adorned with mythical characters and beasts, while the gold finish was varied with ebony, ivory and coloured gems. Zeus himself appeared to be made of solid gold and ivory, thought in fact these materials were a veneer pieced together on a core of carved wood. This chryselephantine statue of Zeus must have been so pleasing to the eye.
A barrier separated the public from the statue, running between the columns and across the naos at the second column. Between the barrier and statue was a reflecting pool of olive oil to bounce the light and to reflect the image of the gods. The statue of Zeus is so big you can only see his face by looking at the reflection. The temple servants also used this olive oil to regularly anoint the ivory on the statue to stop it from cracking and maintain its gleam. However, the statue was destroyed in a fire in 475 A.C.
The Philippeion at Olympia has the greatest contrast against the two temples. This is because it was built sometime after 338 B.C by Philip of Macedon to mark his final victory over the Greeks at the battle of Chaeronea. It is found just behind the Heraion on the Altis, almost against the boundary. The Philipeion was a tholos of stone and marble in the Ionic order. The 18 Outer columns were Ionic and supported a plain frieze topped by dentils. The roof was made of poros marble, like the rest of the temple. The naos had 9 marble Corinthian half columns and a marble base to the cella wall: above was limestone, stuccoed and painted to imitate brick work. The naos was lit by two windows either side. The floor was ornately decorated with rhomboid flag stones. These black and white stones were arranged regulary at degree divisions of a circle. I think this is very impressive as there isn’t another on the Altis like this. Its decoration and geometric shapes much have been extremely complexed to design which I admire.
To conclude, I think each building, the Heraion, the temple of Zeus and the Philippeion are impressive for their own individual aspects. However my personal favourite in the Philippeion, simply for it’s impressively bold and intriguing floor designs and daring mixture of Ionic and Corinthian order. Unlike the other two temples which only base themselves on the classic Doric order.
