Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch: visitor guide

The biggest temple Greece never finished

The Temple of Olympian Zeus — the Olympieion — was designed to be the largest temple in the ancient Greek world. It was not actually Greek. Construction began under the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos around 515 BC, stalled when democracy replaced tyranny, was resumed and abandoned at least twice more, and was finally completed in 132 AD by the Roman emperor Hadrian — roughly 650 years after the foundations were first laid.

The delay is not incidental; it is the defining fact about the building. The scale was too ambitious for the resources of any classical Athenian democracy willing to finance it. It took Roman imperial power to finish what Greek ambition had begun.

The result was the largest temple in the Roman world east of Rome. The completed building had 104 Corinthian columns, each standing 17.25 metres tall — about two metres taller than the Parthenon’s Doric columns. Of those 104 columns, 15 remain standing. A 16th stood until 1852, when a storm brought it down; it lies exactly where it fell, column drums scattered across the original temple floor, a useful accident that illustrates both the scale and the fragility of ancient structures.

What you actually see today

The site occupies a large, flat rectangular plot south of central Athens, separated from the street by a low fence. The 15 standing columns are grouped together on the south side of the original platform. They are extraordinary: the diameter at the base is nearly two metres, the fluting is deeply cut, and the Corinthian capitals — the acanthus-leaf designs at the top — retain significant detail despite 1,900 years of exposure.

The fallen column is the feature most visitors remember. It occupies a large section of the central platform, column drums roughly 1.6 metres in diameter lying in their sequence as they fell, still more or less aligned. Standing next to it gives a sense of the column dimensions that no photograph from a distance provides.

The column foundations of the full 104-column temple are partially visible as low walls across the site. Walking the full extent of the original platform (about 110 metres by 43 metres) impresses the original scale. The Parthenon was larger in area; the Olympieion’s columns were taller.

Hadrian’s Arch stands at the northwest corner of the site, at the point where the ancient road from Athens proper entered the new Hadrianic extension of the city. It is not technically on the Olympieion site (it sits on the edge of the modern road) and is free to view from the street at any time, though you see it most naturally while visiting the temple.

Hadrian’s Arch

Built around 131–132 AD to coincide with Hadrian’s completion of the Olympieion, the arch served both as a monumental gateway and a declaration. The inscription on the west face reads: “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus.” The east face reads: “This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus.” The emperor was drawing a line between the ancient Greek city (west) and his new Hadrianic additions (east), with the arch as the literal boundary.

The arch stands about 18 metres high, constructed in Pentelic marble. The lower section is a standard Roman triumphal arch form; the upper section has a Greek-style colonnade with Corinthian columns. The combination is visually unusual and historically expressive — Roman structure, Greek ornament, built to honour the emperor who fancied himself Greece’s greatest benefactor.

Hadrian’s contributions to Athens were substantial: in addition to completing the Olympieion, he built the Library of Hadrian in Monastiraki, expanded the city’s aqueduct system, and added an entire new neighbourhood (Hadrianopolis) east of the arch that included the Pantheon (now completely gone), a gymnasium and several temples.

The arch is freely visible from the pavement of Leoforos Vasilissis Amalias at all hours. Entry to the Olympieion site is required to get within 50 metres of it on the east side.

Practical information

Entry: €6 adult (standalone, April–October). €3 in winter. Included in the €30 seven-site combo ticket — see the Acropolis tickets guide for full combo details.

Opening hours: April–October: 8:00 am–8:00 pm daily. November–March: 8:00 am–3:00 pm daily.

Getting there: The site entrance is on Vasilissis Olgas, the boulevard forming the site’s south edge. Metro Line 2 (red) to Akropoli station, then two minutes’ walk east. Alternatively, a ten-minute walk east from the Acropolis south entrance along Dionysiou Areopagitou, which transitions into Vasilissis Olgas at the arch.

Time needed: 30 to 45 minutes for a thorough visit. The site is compact; there is not a great deal of wandering to do. Allow longer if you want to sit on the low platform walls and simply look at the columns for a while — this is genuinely one of Athens’s better spots for that.

Photography: The columns photograph well in most light conditions. Early morning gives a clean background sky; late afternoon gives warm orange light on the honey-coloured marble. The gap in the columns where #16 fell creates a natural framing point for photos of the standing group.

Combining the Olympieion with other nearby sites

The Olympieion sits in a cluster of sites that make for an excellent two-hour morning circuit:

The Acropolis is 15 minutes west on foot (or 10 minutes back along Dionysiou Areopagitou). Logistically, it makes sense to visit the Olympieion early and then walk to the Acropolis — this is also a pleasant route, pedestrianised for most of its length.

The Acropolis Museum is immediately south of the Acropolis and north of the Olympieion, about eight minutes’ walk from the temple site. Some visitors combine Olympieion, Acropolis Museum, and Acropolis in a single extended morning; this is ambitious but works if you start by 8:00 am.

Záppeion and National Garden: Just north of the Olympieion site, the Záppeion Megaron (a neoclassical exhibition hall built 1874–1888) and the National Garden (free entry, excellent shade) are pleasant breaks between ancient-site visits. Syntagma Square is a 15-minute walk north through the garden.

The Athens half-day sightseeing tour typically includes the Olympieion and Hadrian’s Arch as part of a broader circuit covering the Acropolis, Panathenaic Stadium, and Syntagma Square — this is the most efficient way to cover multiple sites without worrying about walking routes.

The building’s Roman religious context

When Hadrian dedicated the completed temple in 132 AD, he installed a massive cult statue of Zeus Olympios in ivory and gold, comparable in scale to the Chryselephantine Athena of the Parthenon. He also placed a second statue — of himself — alongside it. This was standard Roman emperor behaviour in the eastern Mediterranean but would have been scandalous in the classical period. By 132 AD, Athens had been under Roman control for nearly two centuries and had thoroughly accommodated imperial self-deification.

The sanctuary received worshippers and hosted festival games through the late 3rd century AD. The Herulian invasion of 267 AD damaged Athens extensively; the Olympieion appears to have ceased functioning as a temple shortly afterward. By the Byzantine period it was partly dismantled for building material, which explains why so few columns survive: the marble was too useful not to recycle.

For broader Athens planning including where the Olympieion fits into a multi-day itinerary, see how many days to spend in Athens and the Athens itineraries.

Frequently asked questions about the Temple of Olympian Zeus

Why does the Temple of Olympian Zeus look so different from other Greek temples?

Two reasons. First, it uses Corinthian columns rather than the Doric or Ionic orders typical of classical Greek temples — the elaborate acanthus-leaf capitals are visually distinct from anything else in Athens. Second, so few columns survive (15 of the original 104) that the arrangement looks irregular: a surviving cluster on one end rather than the complete colonnaded enclosure you see at the Hephaisteion. The fallen column adds to the impression of incompleteness. In its completed state, the Olympieion would have been recognisably temple-like; in its current state, the fragment-cluster is its own kind of spectacle.

Is Hadrian’s Arch included in the Olympieion ticket?

Hadrian’s Arch is on the public pavement and free to view from street level at all hours — it is not inside the fenced site. The closest view of the arch’s east face (with the “city of Hadrian” inscription) requires entering the Olympieion site or standing on the pavement of Vasilissis Amalias directly below it. The arch itself has no ticket; the Olympieion ticket covers the column site.

Can I read the inscriptions on Hadrian’s Arch?

The inscriptions are in ancient Greek and are carved into the white marble attic (upper section) of the arch. They are visible but require binoculars or a telephoto lens to read easily from ground level. The text is reproduced in most guidebooks and on the site information panels.

When does the fallen column look its best?

Morning light from the east — the sun rises roughly behind the standing columns — illuminates the fallen drums dramatically in the first hour after sunrise. Late afternoon from about 4:00 pm onward gives warm raking light across the column surfaces. Midday in summer is the least interesting and hottest time to visit.

Are there guided tours of the Olympieion specifically?

The site is usually covered as part of broader Athens tours rather than as a standalone guided experience. The Athens half-day sightseeing tour includes it with guide commentary. For the Olympieion specifically in depth, the things to do at ancient sites page lists available options.