In honour of Zeus

Statue of a bull which stood at the centre of the nymphaeum at Olympia

with an inscription indicating it was dedicated to Zeus by Annia Regilla.

Herodes Atticus belonged to a wealthy Athenian family and he married

Annia Regilla who belonged to an even wealthier Roman family.

In addition to the nymphaeum at Olympia, Herodes Atticus built a

large odeon at Athens,
in honour of his wife Annia Regilla in 161A.C.

The couple spent most of their time in Greece including Olympia where

Annia Regilla was given a position of priestess.

(Source Wikipedia)

Statue eines Stieres.

In seinen Leib ist die Weihinschrift der Regilla, der Gattin des Herodes Atticus,

eingemeisselt.

Regilla, die Priesterin der Demeter, hat das Wasser und das es Umgebende dem

Zeus geweiht.

Annia Regilla war die Gattin von Herodes Atticus, der aus einer wohlhabenden

Athener Familie stammte. In Ergänzung des Nymphaeum in Olympia hat

Herodes Atticus zu Ehren seiner Gemahlin  das grosse Theater in Athen erbaut.

2. Hälfte 2. Jh. N. Chr.

Museum of Olympia

Άπτερος Νίκη

Statue of Nike

Greek goddess of victory

Statue from the Archaeological museum of Olympia 

The statues left first.

 A little later the trees, people, animals.

The land became entirely desert.

The wind blew.

Newspapers and thorns circled in the streets.

At dusk the lights went on by themselves.

A man came back alone,

looked around him,

took out his key,

stuck it in the ground

as though entrusting it to an underground hand

or as though planting a tree.

Then he climbed the marble stairs and gazed down at the city.

Cautiously, one by one, the statues returned.

Yannis Ritsos (1909 – 1991)

Translated by Edmund Keeley

A walk in Ancient Olympia. Μιά βόλτα στήν Αρχαία Ολυμπία.

Temple of Hera.
Ναός της Ήρας.

 
Among the impressive buildings at Altis is Hera's Temple, which dates much earlier than her husband's (Zeus)
and served as a perfect setting for Praxiteless's Hermes (found standing among the columns of the Temple).

Ανάμεσα στα εντυπωσιακά κτήρια στο Άλτις είναι ο ναός της Ήρας ο οποίος χρονολογείται πολύ
νωρίτερα απ'ότι του συζύγου της (Δία) και λειτουργούσε ως ενα τέλειο περιβάλλον για τον Έρμη του
Πραξιτέλη  (βρέθηκε ανάμεσα στα ερείπια του ναού).

Original Olympic stadium in Olympia.

Αρχαίο Ολυμπιακό στάδιο στην Ολυμπία.

Zeus and Ganymedes.
A terracotta statuette depicting Zeus carrying-off young Ganymedes.


Δίας και Γανυμήδης.
Ένα αγαλματίδιο από τερακότα που απεικονίζει τον Δία στην αρπαγή του νεαρού Γανυμήδη.

Hermes of Praxiteles

Hermes and the Infant Dionysos, also known as the Hermes of Praxiteles is an ancient Greek

sculpture discovered in 1877 in the ruins of the Temple of Hera at Olympia.

It is displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

It is traditionally attributed to Praxiteles and dated to the 4^th century BC, based on a remark

by the 2^nd century Greek traveler Pausanias.

The German excavations in 1875 were led by Ernst Curtius.

On 8 May 1877, in the Temple of Hera, he uncovered the body (head, torso, legs,  left arm)

of a statue of a young man resting against a tree trunk covered by a mantle.

It took six more separate discoveries to uncover the rest of the statue as it is displayed today.

The group is sculpted from a block of the best quality of Parian marble.

Source: Wikipedia

Hermes des Praxiteles  (340 – 330 v.Chr.)

Die Statue ist im Jahre 1877 im Tempel der Hera in Olympia gefunden worden.

Der Bote der Götter hat von Zeus den Auftrag erhalten, den kleinen Dionysos

zu den Nymphen zu bringen, die ihn aufziehen sollen.

Auf seinem Weg hat er eine Rast eingelegt und seinen Mantel über einen

Baumstumpf geworfen.

In der erhobenen rechten Hand hat er wahrscheinlich ein Traubenbündel gehalten,

das Symbol des künftigen Gottes des Weines, nach dem der kindliche Dionysos

denn auch seine Hand ausstreckt.

Der Bildhauer hat dem Gesicht des Gottes olympische Gelassenheit und dem

nackten Körper eine unvergleichliche Harmonie verliehen.

Dabei unterstreicht die Politur der Oberfläche den Reiz und die Zartheit der

Einzelformen im Werk des groβen Bildhauers Praxiteles .

Parischer Marmor, Höhe 2,13 m.