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)

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account; for what 1 saw, X perceived that this terrace, which might be
distinguished for an extent of 4230 feet, at the same time that it separated

the stadium from the Hippodrome, served to prevent the inundations of
the Alpheus; I thought also, that I recognised in the midst of the
crumbled bank traces of a third course, which might be the vast
amphitheatre with which Adrian bad decorated Olympia. I was able to
calculate generally, that the Hippodrome, supported by the middle terrace,
was flanked by it for an extent of 1410 feet, which exceeds by 270 feet the
real length of the stadium; this would leave near the barrier and the
winning post, a space which I suppose to be 135 feet."

These arc all the extracts which it will he necessary to present to
my readers; my observations upon them shall be brief. M. Pouqueville
appears to have visited Olympia with a predisposition towards M. Fauvel's
theory; he accordingly recognised the Hippodrome in the place assigned to
it by that gentleman, and like him found the stadium in the southern
side of the Hippodrome, and on the banks of the Alpheus, though lie seems
to differ from him in making the level of the stadium 15 feet lower than
that of the Hippodrome, whereas M. Fauvcl speaks of the southern terrace
as a slight eminence. M. Pouqueville appears a little surprised at finding
his Hippodrome t-110 feet instead of 1380 feet; he says, however, that he lost
no time in rectifying his error, which he appears to have done by allowing
a greater space for the passage of the chariots round the posts at the two
extremities of the Hippodrome; but, though this diflcrence might not affect
his hypothesis, it undoubtedly does that, of the Count de Cboiscul, which