212

THE OLYMPIE10N AT ATHENS.

also a temple of Kronos and Rhea ; but its temenos, i.e. the enclosure
sacred to the deities, must have extended to a considerable distance
outside the peribolos, down to the Ilissos, as Wachsmuth (p. 227)
shows in detail. It must be remembered that before the time of Pau-
sanias the city wall on the east side had been levelled. There was,
lastly, a temenos of the Olympian Earth (Yrj) ; * and this also prob-
ably extended beyond the peribolos in a south-westerly direction, till it
approached the city wall near the Itonian Gate (Wachsmuth, p. 228 ;
cf. Plut. Thes., 27).

During the excavations in 1861, Rhusopulos took occasion to ex-
amine the peribolos much more closely than had before been done ;
and he laid bare a large portion of the northern boundary wall, the
exact position of which was hitherto unknown. The temple did not
lie, as was supposed, directly in the centre of the enclosure, but was
considerably nearer the north wall. (For a more detailed description
of the peribolos, cf. Rhusopulos in the Arch. Eph., 1862, p. 31 ff.)

In our knowledge of the Olympieion there are many gaps ; and
many questions suggest themselves, which, for the present at least,
cannot be answered. Nevertheless, its remarkable history, its large
dimensions, and the beauty and picturesqueness of its ruins, will
always make it one of the most interesting of the architectural re-
mains of Greek antiquity.

* The emendation rf/s 1-k[k\ti<jiv for ttjv iiviKkriffiv, in Paus. I. 18, 7, is now
universally accepted, and seems certain.

*