Olympia

The Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in the western Peloponnese was the site of the ancient Olympic Games held every four years from 776 BCE until 393 CE. The ruins spread across a shaded valley at the confluence of the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers, with the foundations of the enormous Temple of Zeus — which housed Pheidias' colossal gold-and-ivory cult statue, one of the Seven Wonders — at the centre. The stadium, whose start and finish lines remain in place, and the workshop where Pheidias sculpted the Zeus statue, converted in late antiquity into a Byzantine church, are among the most evocative remains.