Olympia
— — the field where the first Games were run.
Not only on a wall.
“Olympia is a quiet valley between two rivers, the Alfeios and the Kladeos, in the western Peloponnese. The sanctuary of Zeus stood here for more than a thousand years, and the Games were held every four years from 776 BCE until the Roman emperor Theodosius shut them down in 393 CE. What remains today is a long ruin in a grove of pines, with the stadium still cut into the same low hill. from the studio
Olympia, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Olympia sits in the regional unit of Elis in the western Peloponnese, about 18 kilometres inland from the Ionian Sea and the modern port of Katakolo. The ancient sanctuary lies at the confluence of the Alfeios, the longest river of the Peloponnese, and its tributary the Kladeos. The site was sacred to Zeus and held the most important athletic festival of the ancient Greek world for nearly twelve centuries. UNESCO inscribed the archaeological site on the World Heritage list in 1989. The modern town of Archaia Olympia, just north of the ruins, has roughly 1,000 residents.
The ruins cover the Altis, the sacred precinct of Zeus, with the foundations of the Temple of Zeus at the centre — the building that once held Phidias's chryselephantine statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. North of it stands the better-preserved Temple of Hera, dating to roughly 590 BCE and one of the oldest Doric temples in Greece. The Olympic flame is lit at the Hera temple before each modern Games. The ancient stadium lies through a stone tunnel east of the Altis, its track still measuring about 192 metres.
From 776 BCE to 393 CE the Games at Olympia were held every four years, in the late summer, drawing competitors and visitors from across the Greek world. The festival lasted five days and centred on athletic and equestrian contests held in honour of Zeus. A sacred truce, the ekecheiria, suspended warfare among participating cities for the duration. The Emperor Theodosius I banned the Games in 393 CE as part of the suppression of pagan festivals. The modern revival opened in Athens in 1896, and Olympia has lit the torch for every Games since 1936.