Temple of Olympian Zeus visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

Vasilissis Olgas Avenue, Athens 105 57, Attica, Greece

Hours

Open daily; summer (approx. Apr–Oct) ~08:00–20:00, winter shorter (~08:00–17:00); timed hourly entry, last entry −30 min. Confirm seasonally.

Begun

6th century BC under the tyrant Peisistratos; left unfinished for centuries

Completed

Dedicated by the emperor Hadrian in 131 AD, nearly 640 years after it was begun

The columns

104 colossal Corinthian columns originally, each ~17 m tall; fifteen still standing, plus one fallen in an 1852 storm

Getting there

Central Athens, a short walk southeast of the Acropolis; nearest metro Akropoli (Line 2)

Ticket validity

Timed entry — reserved for the date and hourly slot you choose

The largest temple in Greece

The Temple of Olympian Zeus was conceived as a statement of power. In the 6th century BC the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos, and after him his sons, began a temple to Zeus on a scale unmatched in mainland Greece, meant to stand comparison with the enormous temples then rising in the Greek cities of Asia Minor. The plan called for a vast building ringed by a double and triple row of towering columns, its footprint far larger than the temples Athenians were used to. But such ambition was costly, and when the tyranny fell the half-built temple was abandoned, its raised platform and unfinished columns left as a monument to a project that had outrun the city.

For centuries the great temple stood incomplete, a famous ruin-in-waiting in the growing city. Hellenistic kings later took up the work — a Seleucid ruler had a start made on the columns in a new Corinthian style in the 2nd century BC — but again the effort stalled. It fell at last to the Roman emperor Hadrian, a passionate admirer of Greek culture, to finish what Peisistratos had begun. Hadrian completed and dedicated the temple in 131 AD, nearly 640 years after the first stones were laid, and it stood in its full colossal glory for only a few centuries before later ages quarried much of it away. What survives today is enough to make the ancient scale unmistakable.

The colossal columns

The overwhelming impression the Olympieion leaves is one of sheer scale, and it is the columns that deliver it. Each was a giant of Corinthian design, standing around seventeen metres high and built up from massive stone drums crowned with the deeply carved acanthus-leaf capital typical of the order. In its completed form the temple carried 104 such columns, arrayed in dense rows around the sanctuary so that from any angle the visitor looked into a forest of stone. Even reduced to a fraction of their number, the surviving columns dwarf the people who stand beneath them, and it takes a moment to register that this was the outer colonnade of a single building.

Fifteen of the columns still stand today, thirteen in one group and two a little apart, several of them still linked at the top by a section of the entablature that once ran around the whole temple. The most eloquent survivor, though, is the sixteenth column, which no longer stands at all: it was brought down by a fierce storm in 1852 and lies where it fell, its drums scattered in a long line across the ground like a giant stack of coins knocked over. Walking along it is one of the best ways to understand how these columns were assembled, drum by drum, and to grasp the labour and ambition behind the largest temple in Greece.

Hadrian and the statue of Zeus

The completion of the Olympieion belongs to the emperor Hadrian, and it was one of the great acts of his reign. A devoted philhellene who lavished attention on Athens, Hadrian finished the long-abandoned temple and dedicated it in 131 AD during one of his visits to the city, making it the centrepiece of a wider programme of building that reshaped Athens as a showcase of Greek and Roman culture. Inside the completed temple he installed a colossal cult statue of Zeus made of gold and ivory over a wooden core — the same chryselephantine technique used for the most revered images of the gods — reviving a form of ancient magnificence for the king of the gods in his greatest Athenian home.

Hadrian did not stop at honouring Zeus. Beside the god's statue he set up a giant statue of himself, associating the emperor directly with the supreme deity in the eyes of everyone who entered. This was characteristic of the age and of Hadrian's own careful self-presentation, and it made the temple a monument to imperial as well as divine power. The people of Athens, grateful for his generosity, honoured Hadrian across the city, and the nearby arch that bears his name records the transformation. Standing among the columns today, it is worth remembering that this space once held one of the most splendid divine images of the Roman world, gazed on by an emperor's likeness at its side.

Hadrian's Arch beside the temple

Right beside the archaeological site, on the corner where the temple grounds meet the modern avenue, stands Hadrian's Arch, one of the most photographed monuments in Athens. This tall marble gateway was raised, probably by the grateful Athenians, around the time Hadrian completed the Olympieion, and it served as a symbolic threshold between two parts of the city. Its two faces carry inscriptions that make the point explicit: on the side facing the Acropolis and the old town, the arch declares this to be the city of Theseus, the legendary founder; on the side facing the temple, it proclaims the city of Hadrian, the new Athens the emperor had adorned. The arch thus framed the passage from the ancient heart of Athens into the district Hadrian had renewed around the great temple.

Because Hadrian's Arch stands on the public street outside the fenced site, it is free to see and photograph at any time — you do not need a ticket to admire it, and it makes a natural companion to a visit to the temple it once introduced. Framed through the arch, the columns of the Olympieion rise behind, and with the Acropolis on its hill in the other direction, the corner gathers several of ancient Athens's greatest monuments into a single view. Most visitors pause here before or after their timed entry to read the inscriptions and take in the setting that links the temple to the wider story of Hadrian's city.

The setting in central Athens

The Temple of Olympian Zeus occupies a green, open enclosure in the very centre of modern Athens, a rare pocket of ancient calm ringed by busy streets. Its position is part of its appeal: the Acropolis rises on its rock a short walk to the northwest, the lanes and tavernas of the Plaka spread just to the north, the National Garden and the grand Zappeion lie close to the east, and the marble Panathenaic Stadium is only a little further on. Few archaeological sites sit so completely inside a living city while keeping their own quiet ground, and the contrast between the colossal columns and the surrounding capital is one of the pleasures of the visit.

The site also stands within sight of the river Ilissos, whose valley was sacred in antiquity, and the area around the temple has yielded remains of older sanctuaries and Roman baths. For the visitor, the practical upshot of this central setting is that the Olympieion slots easily into a wider day on foot: it is a natural pairing with the Acropolis, the Plaka, Hadrian's Arch and the National Garden, all within a comfortable stroll. Because the temple enclosure itself is open and largely unshaded, the surrounding gardens and cafés make handy places to rest before or after, and the whole cluster of sights rewards an early start before the heat and the crowds of the city centre build.

Getting there and visiting

Reaching the Temple of Olympian Zeus could hardly be easier, since it sits in the heart of Athens. The nearest metro station is Akropoli on Line 2, only a few minutes' walk from the entrance, and Syntagma, on Lines 2 and 3, is also within easy reach on foot. Most visitors, though, simply walk to the temple as part of a route through the historic centre — down from the Acropolis, out of the Plaka, or across from Syntagma Square — passing Hadrian's Arch, which stands right beside the site. There is no need for buses or day-trips: the Olympieion is a short, central stop that fits naturally between the other great monuments of the city.

The temple is a compact site, and most visitors spend around thirty to forty-five minutes here taking in the columns, the fallen column and the views, plus a few minutes at Hadrian's Arch. The ground is open with very little shade, so a hat, sunscreen and water are wise in the warmer months, and sturdy shoes help on the gravel and ancient surfaces. Entry is now by timed hourly slot, so arrive within the hour shown on your ticket. Because the temple pairs so well with the Acropolis and the Plaka nearby, the best plan is usually an early or late slot for the coolest air and softest light on the columns, with the rest of the historic centre built around it for a full day in ancient Athens.

Read the full guide: How to Get to the Temple of Olympian Zeus →

Frequently asked questions