Stanhope, John Spencer: Olympia or topography illustrative of the actual state of the plain of Olympia and of the ruins of the city of Elis (London, 1824)

9

It is scarcely necessary to look for proofs to establish the identity of
this plain with that of Olympia, as it never appears to have been questioned.
From Strabo * we learn that Olympia was eighty stadia from the temple of
Diana Alpheiona, which stood near the mouth of the Alpheus, a distance which
the learned editors of the French translation consider as erroneous, and
propose die substitution of one hundred and thirty stadia; this does not,
however, appear to me to correspond so well with the position of the Plain
of Miraka, as the distance given by Strabo; since, to speak generally, the
Cladeus is about three hours, i. e. nine miles from the mouth of the
Alpheus.

Little now remains of what is supposed to have been the Temple of
Jupiter, except some of its foundations, and fragments, which can only serve
to prove that it was of the Doric order; sufficient, however, is not left to
establish that its proportions answered to those of the Temple of Jupiter,
as described by Pausauias. An excavation lias been made round the ruins;
but the space inclosed is only 125 feet by 60 feet; whereas, the area
of the Temple of Jupiter was 230 feet by Q5 feet. Other travellers
have been more fortunate than ourselves. Chandler found a massive
capital of the Doric order; and, more recently, both Sir William Gell and Mr.
Cockerell saw fragments that appeared to correspond with the proportions
assigned by Pausanias to the Temple. The testimony of such travellers
cannot but appear to us decisive of this fact. Undoubtedly then, the ruins