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)

sta'di........■ 94 toises, and thai this spec- was divided in two by a spina

or terrace, of 15 toises in width, and thai we must take half of the fee
space for each alley reserved for the course; there will be 39; loiscs on each
side, and consequently a barrier of 3,'lii: feet in width instead of 567 ; the
thing is so much the iik.lt probable, as the terrace built in Mount
Chronios is suddenly lowered down to a level with ihe arena, precisely
towards the middle of lb,- course, so as In give a free entrance to the horses
and chariots into its southern alley. At all events, the barrier, which was
the work of Kleoitas the son of Arislocles, might well be a wonderful
work, when in sinking, lite our theatrical machinery, it raised, probably
by means of a counterpoise, an eagle of bronze on an altar, constructed

Hippodrome-

After so..... observations with which il is not necessary to trouble my

readers, he climbs op from the cells to the plain above and then thus
continues: " In order lo proceed methodically, we turned to the south,
and at a short distance, by following the track of the carpenters who
embark their building timber on the Alpbeus, wc descended into the
stadium. This area, in which the foot races were performed, is situated
immediately on Ihe banks of the Alpbeus, in a place fifteen feet lower than
thai of the Hippodrome. 1 perceived thai the terrace which supporls the
land lo the north, from ils extending a long way lo the easl, bad occasioned
M. Fauvel's error, and thai which I was about to commit, in giving a
grealer length to the Stadium than il ought lo have: in endeavouring lo