Temple of Olympian Zeus

So those are some of the major things Hadrian seems to have built to the north of the Acropolis in Athens.

But he was also very, very active commissioning and building structures on the south side of the city, particularly in the southeast corner, which is now dominated by the precinct of his most famous building of all, the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Now, there are three structures in this part of the city worth talking about.

One is, of course, the temple itself, but there are also a couple other smaller structures that Hadrian built, and so we're gonna start with the two smaller ones.

Not much of it is left now, but it is worth pointing out that gymnasia were a decidedly Greek building, and so this structure probably felt very Greek even if it carried Roman elements.

Second, we're told that he built a temple dedicated to Zeus Panhellenios, Zeus patron of all the Greeks or something like that, and possibly also to Hera.

This temple is generally thought to have sat immediately to the south of the massive Temple of Olympian Zeus, although there's not much left of it today.

Now, among other things, this temple might have contained a shrine dedicated to Hadrian himself.

The central seat is of the priest of Dionysus Eleutherius, the god of the precinct.

Near him is the seat of the priest of Apollo, the laurel bearer, and again of the priest of the Asclepius, and of the priest of Olympian Zeus, and so on, round the whole front semicircle.

It is as though at his majesty's, the front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall.

The theater at Athens is not open night by night, nor even day by day.

Greek authorities and forensic teams are investigating a catastrophic explosion that destroyed a residential building in the historic Plaka district of central Athens, killing six people and injuring three others.

The blast occurred early Friday morning on Lysocrates Street, just steps from major ancient landmarks including the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, reducing the structure to a mound of rubble and damaging nearby properties.

Rescuers utilizing heavy machinery, thermal imaging equipment, and specialized search dogs from the Hellenic Fire Service worked through the weekend to clear the debris.

On Saturday, officials confirmed the recovery of all six victims.

And finally, in Greece, a two-storey building has partially collapsed in central Athens today after an explosion, with one person reportedly injured.

Local media say a gas leak was believed to have caused the blast in a tourist area near the Acropolis at the Temple of Zeus.

The explosion was heard throughout the city centre, while falling rubble damaged several nearby cars.

Police also rescued two women who had been trapped in an adjacent building.

It was going to be in charge of celebrating a festival every four years, a festival featuring games that Hadrian envisioned as operating on the scale of the Olympic Games.

And ultimately, it was to meet in the great Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens.

Now, this temple had been under construction for almost 650 years at this point.

It had been started by Peisistratus going back to pre-Persian invasion.

Now, the Greeks, especially the Athenians, responded enthusiastically to Hadrian's project and to all the goodies that came along with the Panhellenion.

And that response made Hadrian's approach to the Greek part of the empire a real success, probably one of the biggest successes of his reign.

So among other things, Greeks started referring to Hadrian with two new titles— One was the title Olympios, which technically commemorated his completion, finally, after close to 700 years of the temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens.

And the second was Panhellenios, which commemorated his creation of the Panhellenion, the organization of all of the Greeks.

The central seat is of the priest of Dionysus Eleutherius, the god of the precinct.

Near him is the seat of the priest of Apollo the laurel bearer, and again of the priest of the Asclepius, and of the priest of Olympian Zeus, and so on round the whole front semicircle.

It is as though at his majesty's the front row of stalls was occupied by the whole bench of bishops, with the Archbishop of Canterbury enthroned in the central stall.

The theater at Athens is not open night by night, nor even day by day.