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Archaeological Site of Olympia
| Site number: | 517 |
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| Type of site: | Cultural | |
| Date: | 10th cent. BC | |
| Date of Inscription: | 1989 | |
| Location: | Europe, Greece, Region of West Greece in the Western Peloponnese, Prefecture of Ilia | |
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| Description: | The site of Olympia, sitting in a valley in the Peloponnesus, has been populated ever since the prehistoric times. Olympia developed into a centre for the worship of Zeus in the 10th century B.C. The site is home to one of the highest concentrations of ancient Greek masterpieces, housed within the Altis – the sanctuary to the gods. Not counting temples, Olympia also accommodates the remains of all the sports structures erected for the Olympic Games, which began their notorious four year cycles here in 776 B.C. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available. | |
| Olympia (Greek: Ολυμπία Olympí'a or Ολύμπια Olýmpia, older transliterations, Olimpia, Olimbia), a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad (i.e. every four years), the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC. In 394 emperor Theodosius I abolished them because they were reminiscent of paganism. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. | ||
| Source: | http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/517 | |
| Reference: | 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page. | |