Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (1.1882-1883)

202

THE OLYMPIEION AT ATHENS.

verunt, genioque eius dedicare. There is not a syllable to show that
the idea of completing the temple bore any practical fruit. Though
in general it is dangerous to argue from negative evidence, in this case
I think it is justified ; for while the contributions of Antiochos and
Hadrian toward the finishing of the temple are each attested by
several independent witnesses, there is no testimony for those of
Augustus but a single passage of Suetonius, and even that does not
say that anything substantial was accomplished. We must bear in
mind, too, that, among those who speak of the work of Antiochos
upon the building, Vitruvius, Livy, and Strabo are all contemporaries
of Augustus ; and we should certainly expect some notice, at least in
Vitruvius, if Augustus really accomplished anything of importance.
The fact, then, which is commonly recognized, that the present
columns do not belong to the time of Hadrian, seems to refer them
of necessity to that of Antiochos Epiphanes.

Much, however, remained to be done ; the roofing, the finishing
of the interior, together with the sculptural adornment of the whole,
in the case of so large a temple were no small task. Almost three
entire centuries passed, leaving the half-finished temple substantially
unchanged. The idea that it would ever be completed seems to have
been almost given up. Plutarch {Sol., 32) says : ws y iroXis tu>v
AOrjvac(t)v to 'OXv/jlttlov, ovtws 'j IIAaraJvos <ro<f>[a rov 'AtXclvtlkov iv
7roXXoi<; kclXols fxovov epyov dreAe? ecr^Kev. And Lucian {Icaromen,,
24), represents even Zeus as getting impatient to know when the
Athenians intend to finish his temple. At last, however, Hadrian was
declared emperor of Rome, and in his reign it was destined to be
completed.

Here the problems that meet us are chronological; for the reign
of Hadrian, while familiar enough in its main features, has long been
a bone of contention to chronologists. This uncertainty affects almost
all of Hadrian's journeys in the various provinces of his empire ; but
all that concerns us here are his visits to Athens after he was emperor.
Whether he was in Athens in 112 a.d., when he held his archonship,
does not matter here, for he was not then in a position to undertake
the completion of the temple. The date of his first visit to Athens
as Emperor is probably also the date at which the work on the Olym-
pieion was resumed ; but this date is not accurately determined. The
older investigations on the subject generally placed this visit in 122