Olympia, Greece#Municipality

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Olympia lies in the valley of the Alfeiós River (also Anglicized as Alpheus or Alpheios) in the western part of the Peloponnese, today around {{cvt|18|km|mi}} from the Gulf of Kyparissia in the Ionian Sea, but in antiquity perhaps half that distance.{{cite web |title=Olympia Hypothesis: Tsunamis Buried the Cult Site On the Peloponnese |publisher=Science Daily |date=11 July 2011 |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110710204240.htm |access-date=12 July 2011 |archive-date=15 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715020529/http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110710204240.htm |url-status=live }}"In earlier times, Olympia was not 22 kilometers away from the sea as it is today. Back then, the coastline was located eight or perhaps even more kilometers further inland ..." Professor Dr Andreas Vött of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

According to Pausanias, there were over 70 temples in total, as well as treasuries, altars, statues, and other structures dedicated to many deities.Wilson Somewhat in contrast to Delphi, where a similar large collection of monuments were tightly packed within the temenos boundary, Olympia sprawled beyond the boundary wall, especially in the areas devoted to the games.

To the north of the sanctuary can be found the Prytaneion and the Philippeion, as well as the array of treasuries representing the various city-states. The Metroon lies to the south of these treasuries, with the Echo Stoa to the east. The hippodrome and later stadium were located east of the Echo Stoa. To the south of the sanctuary is the South Stoa and the bouleuterion, whereas the palaestra, the workshop of Pheidias, the gymnasion, and the Leonidaion lie to the west.

Olympia was also known for the gigantic chryselephantine (ivory and gold on a wooden frame) statue of Zeus that was the cult image in his temple, sculpted by Pheidias, which was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Antipater of Sidon. Very close to the Temple of Zeus which housed this statue, the studio of Pheidias was excavated in the 1950s. Evidence found there, such as sculptor's tools, corroborates this opinion. The ancient ruins sit north of the Alpheios River and south of Mount Kronos (named after the Greek deity Kronos). The Kladeos, a tributary of the Alpheios, borders the west.

File:Plan Olympia sanctuary-en.svg

File:Olympia 34.jpg

The Altis was an irregular quadrangular area more than {{cvt|183|m|yd}} on each side and walled except to the North where it was bounded by the Kronion (Mount Kronos).{{cite web |title=Altis |author=((Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica)) |website=Britannica |access-date=10 July 2021 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/17740/Altis |archive-date=28 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428125231/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/17740/Altis |url-status=live }} It consisted of an arrangement of buildings, the most important of which are the Temple of Hera (or Heraion/Heraeum), the Temple of Zeus, the Pelopion, and open sites used for traditional activities, such as the area of the great altar of Zeus, where the largest sacrifices were made.The final configuration of the Altis is depicted in {{cite web |title=Introduction to tour of Olympia |website=Tour with pictures |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/site_1.html |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |access-date=13 July 2021 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211000638/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/site_1.html |url-status=live }}

Pindar, the 5th-century-BC Theban poet, says that Heracles founded the "sacred precinct" (zatheon alsos) next to the tomb of Pelops in honor of Zeus, his own father, referring to the precinct founded as the Altis, and made the "encircling area a resting-place for feasting," honoring the river Alfeios and the 12 Olympian gods. He assigned the name "Hill of Cronus" to the previously unnamed hill, and then instituted the Olympic games.{{cite book |author=Pindar |title=Olympian |translator=Diane Arnson Svarlien |year=1990 |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |chapter=Olympian 10 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D10 |access-date=12 July 2021 |archive-date=12 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712104308/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162:book%3DO.:poem%3D10 |url-status=live }} The Greek is accessible from this site, as well as syntactical notes of every Greek word in it. Pindar creates in a single, compact sentence, what has been called "Olympic space".The sentence is (lines 44-48 of the poem) ... Διὸς ἄλκιμος υἱὸς σταθμᾶτο ζάθεον ἄλσος πατρὶ μεγίστῳ: περὶ δὲ πάξαις Ἄλτιν μὲν ὅγ᾽ ἐν καθαρῷ διέκρινε, τὸ δὲ κύκλῳ πέδον ἔθηκε δόρπου λύσιν ..., which may be translated literally as "the stalwart son of Zeus measured out the sacred grove to his greatest father: having fixed the Altis on the one hand he distinguished it in a clear space and fashioned a plain in the surrounding circle as a relaxing place for festivals." The English does not capture the Greek exactly; the Greek words require some exegesis. The space is a work of man created by a sequence of operations: first, Herakles lays out (stathmato) the sacred grove (alsos) with a surveying instrument called a stathme. Second, he "fixes" the border of the Altis (paxais Altin), and third clears the space around it (en katharo diekrine). Fourth, he "made" (etheke) ground (pedon) as an entertainment space (lusin) for festivals (dorpou). Then he goes on to "honor" the ford of the Alfeios (necessarily to the south), the twelve gods, and to name the unnamed hill for Kronos. He then can hold the first games.{{sfn|Eckerman|2013|pp=28–30}}

Today trees have been allowed to grow over the site quasi-grove. These are primarily Cercis siliquastrum, colloquially "Judas-tree" (nothing to do with Judas), a pink-flowering low tree. If they are natural to the site now, they probably were in antiquity. Olea europaea, olive, is of course ubiquitous in the region, usually growing in planted groves, but sometimes wild. Platanus orientalis, the plane tree, is common in the area, and Pinus halepensis. Aleppo pine, also covered Kronion until the fires of 2007-2009.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

There is not much indication of what structures were in the Altis, except the games must have been part of the "feasting" and therefore were held in the "resting-place". The size of the precinct must have varied as the site developed, as the original stadium is known to have extended well within the later east wall. That the temple of Zeus was built within the precinct is a reasonable assumption. As there is no trace of a succession of walls, the wall might reasonably be presumed to have been a late feature, but no later than Pindar.An alternative view is that the stadium began inside the Altis but was moved outside: {{cite web |title=The Stadium and the Events |website=A Tour of Ancient Olympia |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |access-date=14 July 2021 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/site_6q.html |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714130146/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/site_6q.html |url-status=live }}. During its inside phase the spectators must have sat on the hill. In addition to disrespecting Pindar, this view requires a distance of about {{cvt|100|m|ft}} between the spectators and the events, a disadvantage easily seen from the current road on the hill, the steep cliff of the hill also being a disadvantage.

File:Remains of the Pelopeion in Olympia on October 14, 2020.jpg

The classical Pelopion was a separate sanctuary defined by a peribolos wall dating to the 6th century BC,{{cite web |title=Olympia, Pelopeion (Building) |website=Art & Archaeology Artifact Browser |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |access-date=14 July 2021 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifactBrowser?object=Building&field=Region&value=Elis&page=10 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714093916/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifactBrowser?object=Building&field=Region&value=Elis&page=10 |url-status=live }} long after the conventional start of the Olympic games, 776 BC (which cannot be disrespected without tampering with the entire ancient Greek dating system). This was certainly a remodeling of a previously existing sanctuary of Pelops. A 1987-plus excavation of the Pelopion established "a continuous ceramic sequence for the 11th century onward" including submycenaean (1100-1000 BC) and protogeometric (1000-900 BC). There was a good sprinkling of "cultic" material (votive figurines and vases).{{harvnb|Averett|2007|p=88}}

The name Altis was derived from a corruption of the Elean word also meaning "the grove" because the area was wooded, olive and plane trees in particular.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

{{for-multi|a history of the Olympic Games|Olympic Games|and|Ancient Olympic Games}}

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It used to be thought that the site had been occupied since about 1500 BC, with a religious cult of Zeus developing around 1000 BC. It may be that instead there was only a sanctuary from the 9th or 8th centuries, though the question remains in debate. Others believe that remains of food and burnt offerings dating back to the 10th century BC give evidence of a long history of religious activity at the site. No buildings have survived from this earliest period of use.{{cite web |url=http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/olympics/classical/ |title=Olympics Through Time |website=sunsite.icm.edu.pl |access-date=22 February 2007 |archive-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309112332/http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/olympics/classical/ |url-status=live }}

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The first Olympic festival was organized on the site by the authorities of Elis in the 8th century BC – with tradition dating the first games at 776 BC. Major changes were made to the site around 700 BC, including levelling land and digging new wells. Elis' power diminished and the sanctuary fell into the hands of the Pisatans in 676 BC. The Pisatans organized the games until the late 7th century BC.

The earliest evidence of building activity on the site dates from around 600 BC. At this time, the Skiloudians, allies of the Pisatans, built the Temple of Hera.{{Cite web |title=Ancient Olympic Games and the Elis Olympic Coins for Olympia |url=https://elisolympiccoins.com/ |access-date=9 March 2021 |website=Elis Olympic Coins |archive-date=17 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117022237/https://elisolympiccoins.com/ |url-status=dead }} The Treasuries and the Pelopion were built during the course of the 6th century BC. The secular structures and athletic arenas were also under construction during this period, including the Bouleuterion. The first stadium was constructed around 560 BC and it consisted of just a simple track. The stadium was remodelled around 500 BC with sloping sides for spectators and shifted slightly eastward. Over the course of the 6th century BC a range of sports were added to the Olympic festival. In 580 BC, Elis, in alliance with Sparta, occupied Pisa and regained the control over the sanctuary.

File:Olympia-02.jpg from Olympia, 360 BC. Obverse: Head of Zeus wearing laurel wreath. Reverse: Head of the nymph Olympia wearing sphendone. ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑ to right.]]

The classical period, between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, was the golden age of the site at Olympia. A wide range of new religious and secular buildings as well as structures were made.

The Temple of Zeus was built mid 5th century BC. Its size, scale and ornaments were beyond anything previously constructed on the site. The Greek Baths and further sporting facilities, including the final iteration of the stadium, and the hippodrome (for chariot-racing) were constructed. The Prytaneion was built at the northwest side of the site in 470 BC.

In the late classical period, further structures were added to the site. The Metroon was constructed near the Treasuries around 400 BC. The erection of the Echo Stoa, around 350 BC, separated the sanctuary from the area of the games and stadium.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} The South Stoa was built at the southern edge of the sanctuary at approximately the same time.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

File:Olimpia FilipTemple.JPG]]

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File:Stadio Olimpia 2007.JPG]]

The late 4th century BC saw the erection of the Philippeion. Around 300 BC the largest building on the site, the Leonidaion, was constructed to house important visitors. Due to the increasing significance of the games, further athletic buildings were constructed including the Palaestra (3rd century BC), Gymnasion (2nd century BC) and bath houses (c.300 BC). Finally, in 200 BC, a vaulted archway was erected linking the entrance of the stadium to the sanctuary.

During the Roman period, the games were opened up to all citizens of the Roman Empire. A programme of new buildings and extensive repairs, including to the Temple of Zeus, took place. In 150 AD, the Nympheum (or Exedra) was built. New baths replaced the older Greek examples in 100 AD and an aqueduct was constructed in 160 AD.

The 3rd century saw the site suffer heavy damage from a series of earthquakes. Invading tribes in 267 AD led to the centre of the site being fortified with material robbed from its monuments. Despite the destruction, the Olympic festival continued to be held at the site until the last Olympiad in 393 AD, after which the Christian emperor Theodosius I implemented a ban. The Temple of Zeus was apparently destroyed around 426 AD, during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, following an edict by Theodosius II enforcing the ban on pagan festivals. The workshop of Pheidias was turned into a Basilica and the site was inhabited by a Christian community. Archaeological evidence suggests that small scale Olympic events (perhaps in Christian guise) were still being held secretly until Justinian's plague and two earthquakes devastated the place mid 6th century.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} Repeated floods ensured that the settlement was finally abandoned altogether in the early 7th Century.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

File:Plain d'Olympie. Partie des ruines (détail).jpg discovered by the expedition of Morea in May 1829 (by Abel Blouet and Pierre Achille Poirot)]]

Over time the site was buried under alluvial deposits, up to 8 metres deep, long thought to be the result of river flooding. Modern research hypothesizes instead—based on the presence of mollusc and gastropod shells and foraminifera— that the site was buried by sea waters resulting from repeated tsunamis."Both the composition and thickness of the sediments we find in Olympia do not go with the hydraulic potential of the Kladeos River and the geomorphological inventory of the valley." Dr. Vött. The exact site was re-discovered in 1766 by the English antiquarian Richard Chandler.Sherry Marker, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9B07EFDC1E3BF93BA25754C0A9629C8B63 "Where Athletes Once Ran"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103204245/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9B07EFDC1E3BF93BA25754C0A9629C8B63 |date=3 November 2007 }} in the New York Times, 18 July 2004.{{cite book |last=Gates |first=Charles |title=Ancient cities: the archaeology of urban life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome |year=2003 |publisher=Psychology Press |page=234}} Since then, the site had been visited by several other antiquarian-travellers such as Louis-François-Sébastien Fauvel, François Pouqueville, William Gell, Charles Robert Cockerell and William Martin Leake.

The first excavation was not carried out until 1829, when the French archaeologists of the "Expedition Scientifique de Morée" arrived on the site of the sanctuary at Olympia on 10 May 1829. As most of the buildings were invisible, the general identification was made possible thanks to the more precise descriptions of Edward Dodwell and John Spencer Stanhope. The French archaeologists spent six weeks on the site.Yiannis Saïtas et al., L'œuvre de l'expédition scientifique de Morée 1829-1838, Edited by Yiannis Saïtas, Editions Melissa, 2011 (Part I) - 2017 (Part II).Eugène-Emmanuel Amaury-Duval (painter, member of the scientific commission), Souvenirs (1829-1830), Librairie Plon, E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, imprimeurs-éditeurs, Paris, 1885.Abel Blouet, [https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/blouet1831 Expedition scientifique de Morée ordonnée par le Gouvernement Français; Architecture, Sculptures, Inscriptions et Vues du Péloponèse, des Cyclades et de l'Attique] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423103529/https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/blouet1831 |date=23 April 2022 }}, Abel Blouet, Amable Ravoisié, Achille Poirot, Félix Trézel et Frédéric de Gournay, Volume I, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1831 Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois (director of the section of Archaeology) and Abel Blouet (director of the section of Architecture and Sculpture) undertook the first excavations, accompanied by the painters Pierre Achille Poirot, Pierre Félix Trézel and Amaury-Duval. The site was divided topographically into squares, trenches were dug, excavations were undertaken in straight lines, and models for restoration were proposed: archaeology was becoming rationalized, and it was in this way that the location and identity of the Temple of Zeus were determined for the first time.[http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/sammlung16/werk/blouet1831.xml?docname=blouet1831&pageid=PAGE0164 Map of the location of the temple of Zeus at Olympia] (in Abel Blouet et Amable Ravoisié, Expédition scientifique de Morée, ordonnée par le Gouvernement Français. Architecture, Sculptures, Inscriptions et Vues du Péloponèse, des Cyclades et de l’Attique., Firmin Didot, 1831.)

File:Kronios baths at olympia.jpg

Since the 1870s, the excavation and preservation of Ancient Olympia has been the responsibility of the German Archaeological Institute at Athens. The first major excavation of Olympia began in 1875, funded by the German government after negotiation of exclusive access by Ernst Curtius. Other archaeologists responsible for the dig were Gustav Hirschfeld, George Treu, Adolf Furtwängler (who worked alongside architects), A. Boetticher, Wilhelm Dörpfeld, and Richard Borrmann. They excavated the central part of the sanctuary including the Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hera, Metroon, Bouleuterion, Philipeion, Echo Stoa, Treasuries and Palaestra. Important finds included sculptures from the Temple of Zeus, the Nike of Paeonius, the Hermes of Praxiteles and many bronzes. In total 14,000 objects were recorded. The finds were displayed in a museum on the site.[http://www.dainst.org/index_548_en.html Olympia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611073608/http://www.dainst.org/index_548_en.html |date=11 June 2007 }} at the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

Excavation continued in a more limited way by Dörpfeld between 1908 and 1929 but a new systematic excavation began in 1936 on the occasion of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin under Emil Kunze and Hans Schleif. Their excavation focus was on the area to the south of the stadium, the South Stoa, bath complex and gymnasion.

Between 1952 and 1966, Kunze continued the excavation joined by architect Alfred Mallwitz. They excavated Pheidias' workshop, the Leonidaion and the north wall of the stadium. They also excavated the southeast section of the sanctuary and out of approximately 140 debris pits found many bronze and ceramic objects along with terracotta roof tiles.

Mallwitz took charge of the excavations between 1972 and 1984 revealing important dating evidence for the stadium, graves, and the location of the Prytaneion. From 1984 to 1996, Helmut Kyrieleis took over the site and the focus shifted to the earlier history of the sanctuary with excavation of the Prytaneion and Pelopion.

In March 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 2.500 year-old unbroken bronze bull idol near to the temple of Greek deity Zeus. According to archaeologist Zaharaoula Leventouri, one of the statue's horns stuck to the ground after a heavy rainfall and was carefully removed from the area. Researchers also revealed fine pottery remains dated back to Greece's Geometric art period.{{Cite magazine |last=Gershon |first=Livia |title=Rare Bronze Bull Sacrificed to Zeus Found at Site of the Ancient Olympic Games |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/greek-archaeologists-find-3000-year-old-bronze-bull-180977290/ |date=22 March 2021 |access-date=29 March 2021 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |location=Washington DC}}{{Cite news |date=19 March 2021 |title=Greek archaeologists unearth bronze bull idol in ancient Olympia |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-archaeology-idol-idUSKBN2BB1AO |access-date=29 March 2021 |archive-date=28 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328163637/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-archaeology-idol-idUSKBN2BB1AO |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Τυχαία αποκάλυψη χάλκινου ειδωλίου ταύρου στον Αρχαιολογικό Χώρο Ολυμπίας |url=https://www.culture.gov.gr/el/Information/SitePages/view.aspx?nID=3703 |access-date=29 March 2021 |website=www.culture.gov.gr |language=el |archive-date=22 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322214025/https://www.culture.gov.gr/el/Information/SitePages/view.aspx?nID=3703 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=19 March 2021 |title=Rain uncovers bull idol at ancient Olympia |url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/19/rain-uncovers-bull-idol-at-ancient-olympia |access-date=29 March 2021 |work=The Guardian |location=London |archive-date=1 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401085155/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/19/rain-uncovers-bull-idol-at-ancient-olympia |url-status=live }}

File:Olympia train station 2008.jpg]]

File:Olimpia Nuova, Piazza principale.jpg

The ancient site of the games had been included during all the intervening centuries within a community yet called Olympia. In modern terms it became Archaia Olympia, "Ancient Olympia," and was a deme, or municipality, of its own. In 2011 it was combined for reasons of economy of government with three other former demes within which union the four became municipal units. The terminology can be confusing, as "ancient Olympia" can be either the modern municipal unit, or only the site of the ruins.The Greeks have a unique municipal system due partly to the terrain and partly as a legacy. The basic residential unit is the deme, translated to "municipality." Demes can be any size but historically they have been mountain villages. They were independent, but independence requires the duplication of municipal government for each village. If instead the demes were several villages, they could pool services. In that case one village is a "municipal unit." These were set by government in the Kallikrates Law of 2011.

The town has a railway station and is the easternmost terminus of the line of Olympia-Pyrgos (Ilia). The train station with the freight yard to its west is located about 300 m east of the town centre. It is linked by GR-74, and the new road was opened in the 1980s. The next stretch N and NE of Olympia opened in 2005. The distance from Pyrgos is {{cvt|20|km|0}}, about {{cvt|50|km|0}} SW of Lampeia, W of Tripoli and Arcadia and {{cvt|4|km|0}} north of Krestena and N of Kyparissia and Messenia. The highway passes north of the ancient ruins. A reservoir is located a few kilometres to the west, impounding the Alfeios River for hydroelectric purposes. The catchment up to Olympia is flat or rolling and is agricultural; upstream from Olympia the river drains the foothills of the mountains. Much of the land around the archaeological site is given to dendriculture; that is, symmetric rows of olive trees.

The site and town of Olympia were threatened by the 2007 forest fires, but no damage was reported.

File:Olympia Model 1.jpg

File:Olympia flame1.jpg

The name of Archaia Olympia ("Ancient Olympia") was extended to the new municipality of 2011. Four former municipalities became municipal units:{{Cite web |url=http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wGYK2xFpSwMnXdtvSoClrL81-32jgAMSfbnMRVjyfnPUeJInJ48_97uHrMts-zFzeyCiBSQOpYnT00MHhcXFRTsb2fGphpq4MKX2ZkaHobySNnvZCNHXvYVvlf80XevW0Q. |title=ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities |language=el |publisher=Government Gazette |access-date=7 September 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306232154/http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/pdfViewerForm.html?args=5C7QrtC22wGYK2xFpSwMnXdtvSoClrL81-32jgAMSfbnMRVjyfnPUeJInJ48_97uHrMts-zFzeyCiBSQOpYnT00MHhcXFRTsb2fGphpq4MKX2ZkaHobySNnvZCNHXvYVvlf80XevW0Q. |url-status=live }}

• Archaia Olympia
• Foloi
• Lampeia
• Lasiona

Archaia Olympia now applied to both a municipality and a unit. The municipality has an area of 545.121 km², the municipal unit 178.944 km².{{cite web |url=http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_02_0101_00098%20.pdf |publisher=National Statistical Service of Greece |title=Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation) |language=el |access-date=15 November 2016 |archive-date=21 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921212047/http://dlib.statistics.gr/Book/GRESYE_02_0101_00098%20.pdf |url-status=live }}

For the subdivisions of the municipal units of Foloi, Lampeia, and Lasiona, see under those topics. The municipal unit of Archaia Olympia is divided into the following communities (villages within the communities given in brackets):

• Vyronas Davos, historian and poet
• Panagiotis Kondylis, one of the most prominent modern Greek thinkers and philosophers
• Nikos Konstantopoulos, politician

When Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, died in 1937, a monument to him was erected at ancient Olympia and, emulating Evangelis Zappas, whose head is buried under a statue in front of the Zappeion, his heart was buried at the monument.{{cite book |year=1996 |title=The Modern Olympics – A Struggle for Revival |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=0-8018-5374-5 |author=David C. Young}}

After suppression of the ancient Olympic Games in 394 AD by Theodosius I, the spirit of the games, international peaceful competition by individuals for excellence, continued. The games were resurrected in 1894 based on the ancient model, but more international than ever. The ideology of the new games turned to the site of ancient Olympia for its inspiration, where even the ruins assumed a symbolic significance. The Olympic flame of the modern-day Olympic Games is lit by reflection of sunlight in a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of Hera and then transported by a torch to the place where the Games are held. When the 2004 Summer Olympics was hosted by Athens, the men's and women's shot put competitions were held at the Olympia stadium.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f910496-f0b7-11d8-a553-00000e2511c8.html#axzz4H1SrUZM5{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/aug/19/athensolympics2004.athletics2 |title=Ancient and modern Shot put revisits Olympia |date=19 August 2004 |website=the Guardian |access-date=11 August 2016 |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410214613/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/aug/19/athensolympics2004.athletics2 |url-status=live }} Although the shot put is not among the modern athletics events with a lineage dating back to the ancient Olympics, it was chosen as requiring least disruption at a sensitive archeological site.{{cite news |last1=Clarey |first1=Christopher |title=The Games live again at Olympia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/IHT-the-games-live-again-at-olympia.html |access-date=2 August 2024 |work=International Herald Tribune |publisher=The New York Times |date=19 August 2004}}

Buildings and monuments in Olympia have been selected numerous times as main motif of collectors' coins. One of the recent samples is the €100 Greek Crypt of Olympia commemorative coin, minted in 2003 to commemorate the 2004 Olympics. In the obverse of the coin, the Crypt of Olympia is depicted. The crypt is a long and narrow vaulted passage through which the athletes and judges entered the Stadium, signifying the opening of the games.

• List of settlements in Elis
• Archaeological Museum of Olympia
• German Archaeological Institute at Athens
• Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Katakolo

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite thesis |last=Averett |first=Erin Walcek |year=2007 |title=Dedications in Clay: Terracotta Figurines in Early Iron Age Greece (c. 1100–700 BCE) |type=PhD |publisher=University of Missouri-Columbia |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/62761526.pdf |access-date=14 July 2021}}
• {{cite book |last=Bickerman |first=E.J. |year=1982 |url=https://archive.org/details/chronologyofanci00bick/page/75 |title=Chronology of the ancient world |publisher=Cornell Univ. Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |edition=2nd |isbn=080141282X}}
• Blouet, A., Ravoisié, A., Poirot, A., Trézel, F., and de Gournay, F. (1831, 1833, 1838). [https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/blouet1831 Expedition scientifique de Morée ordonnée par le Gouvernement Français; Architecture, Sculptures, Inscriptions et Vues du Péloponèse, des Cyclades et de l'Attique], 3 Volumes, Firmin Didot, Paris.
• {{cite journal |first=Christopher |last=Eckerman |title=The Landscape and Heritage of Pindar's Olympia |journal=The Classical World |volume=107 |number=1 |year=2013 |jstor=24699861 }}
• Gates, C. (2003). Ancient cities: the archaeology of urban life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome. Psychology Press, 2003. p. 234
• Saïtas, I. et al. (2011, 2017). The work of the Morea scientific expedition 1829–1838, 2 Parts, edited by Yiannis Saïtas, editions Melissa, Athens.
• Wilson, N. (2013). [https://books.google.com/books?id=8pXhAQAAQBAJ&dq=altis+greece&pg=PA513 Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece]. Routledge, 2013. p. 513, {{ISBN|9781136788000}}
• Young, D. C. (1996). The Modern Olympics – A Struggle for Revival. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0801853745}}

{{Commons category multi|Municipality of Ancient Olympia|Ancient Olympia|Archea Olympia|Archaeological site of Olympia}}

• {{cite web |title=Die Ausgrabungen in Olympia |language=German |website=Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg |year=2005 |url=http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/www/arch/digilit/olympia.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607093903/http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/fachinfo/www/arch/digilit/olympia.html |archive-date=7 June 2007}} Publications of the German excavation in the 19th century digitised by the library of the University of Heidelberg
• {{cite web |title=Olympia |website=Herodotus project |access-date=10 July 2021 |url=http://www.losttrails.com/pages/Hproject/Olympia/Olympia.html}} Extensive black-and-white photo-essays of the site and related artifacts
• {{cite web |title=Olympia Greece Online City Guide |year=2009 |url=http://www.olympia-greece.org/museum.html}}

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Archaia Olympia

|North =

|Northeast = Foloi

|East = Tropaia

|Southeast = Alifeira

|South = Skillounta

|Southwest = Volakas

|West = Pyrgos

|Northwest = Oleni

}}

{{Kallikratis-West Greece}}

{{Archaia Olympia div}}

{{Ancient Greece topics}}

{{World Heritage Sites in Greece}}

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Category:Temples in ancient Olympia

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Category:Populated places in Elis

Category:Municipalities of Western Greece

Category:World Heritage Sites in Greece

Category:Archaeological sites in the Peloponnese (region)

Category:Geography of ancient Elis

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Category:Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece

Category:Populated places in ancient Elis