DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0369
336 TEMPLE OF JUPITER OLYMPIOS.
have united at once all the beauty of form, and all the splendor of
effect, that are produced by the highest excellence of the statuary
and the painter. It was embellished with various metallic orna-
ments, aided by the gorgeous and dazzling magnificence of precious
stones.
We ascended a hill to the west of the temple, and observed, on its
summit, some ancient vestiges, and large blocks of stone. This spot
commands a most beautiful view, comprising the whole of the rich
Olympic plain, with its ruins, its winding rivers, and surrounding
hills, scattered with trees. The Alpheios,1 at Olympia, is broad and
rapid, and about the breadth and colour of the Tiber at Rome; and
like that river, varying the hue of its stream, according to the nature
of the soil through which it flows ; being clear and transparent in its
rocky channels in Arcadia, and yellow and opaque in the rich plains
of Eleia. Both the Alpheios and the Kladeos were revered nearlv
as divinities, and had altars dedicated to them, and were personified
on the temple of Jupiter.
Having remained the whole of the day in drawing and examining
the temple and its immediate vicinity, we proceeded towards the
village of Miraka, which is at the eastern extremity of the plain,
and in our way observed some faint traces of banks and walls, which
may have been the hippodrome and stadium. We crossed a rivulet,
which, issuing from the hills on the left, traverses the plain, and
enters the Alpheios. A few remains of ancient sepulchres are
observed in its vicinity. We here quitted the plain, and after a
gentle ascent of a few minutes, reached the village of Miraka, which
is half an hour from the temple.
This is one of the most miserable villages in Greece; the cottages
Constantinople in the reign of Theodosius the Great, and that the games were then abolished,
and the counting by olympiads ceased. Travels in Greece, c. 15. p. 294. About Poly-
chrome statues in general, but particularly about that of Jupiter Oiympios, consult the
splendid work of Monsieur Quatremere de Quincy in fol. Paris, 1814.
1 The Alpheios produces trout, eels, and smaller fish in abundance.
have united at once all the beauty of form, and all the splendor of
effect, that are produced by the highest excellence of the statuary
and the painter. It was embellished with various metallic orna-
ments, aided by the gorgeous and dazzling magnificence of precious
stones.
We ascended a hill to the west of the temple, and observed, on its
summit, some ancient vestiges, and large blocks of stone. This spot
commands a most beautiful view, comprising the whole of the rich
Olympic plain, with its ruins, its winding rivers, and surrounding
hills, scattered with trees. The Alpheios,1 at Olympia, is broad and
rapid, and about the breadth and colour of the Tiber at Rome; and
like that river, varying the hue of its stream, according to the nature
of the soil through which it flows ; being clear and transparent in its
rocky channels in Arcadia, and yellow and opaque in the rich plains
of Eleia. Both the Alpheios and the Kladeos were revered nearlv
as divinities, and had altars dedicated to them, and were personified
on the temple of Jupiter.
Having remained the whole of the day in drawing and examining
the temple and its immediate vicinity, we proceeded towards the
village of Miraka, which is at the eastern extremity of the plain,
and in our way observed some faint traces of banks and walls, which
may have been the hippodrome and stadium. We crossed a rivulet,
which, issuing from the hills on the left, traverses the plain, and
enters the Alpheios. A few remains of ancient sepulchres are
observed in its vicinity. We here quitted the plain, and after a
gentle ascent of a few minutes, reached the village of Miraka, which
is half an hour from the temple.
This is one of the most miserable villages in Greece; the cottages
Constantinople in the reign of Theodosius the Great, and that the games were then abolished,
and the counting by olympiads ceased. Travels in Greece, c. 15. p. 294. About Poly-
chrome statues in general, but particularly about that of Jupiter Oiympios, consult the
splendid work of Monsieur Quatremere de Quincy in fol. Paris, 1814.
1 The Alpheios produces trout, eels, and smaller fish in abundance.