TEMPLE OF JUPITER AT OLYMPIA, 
695 
columns, altars, and other decorations, executed in the most inelegant 
style that any of the church-building barbarians ever adopted. In 
the courtyard stands a small Egyptian obelisk, of red granite, crowded 
with hieroglyphics. In the adjoining square is a fountain, and a 
very indifferent statue of Benedict XIII. long archbishop of Bene- 
vento. 
Temple of Jupiter at Olympia. 
This temple was of the Doric order, sixty-eight feet high to the pe- 
diment, ninety-five wide, and two hundred and thirty long ; the cell 
encompassed with the columns. It was erected with the country 
stone ; the roof was not of earth baked, but of Pentelie marble, the 
slabs disposed as tiles; the way to it was up a winding staircase. 
The two pediments were enriched with sculpture, and one had over 
the centre a statue of Victory gilded, and underneath a votive buckler 
of gold. At each corner w'as a gilded vase. Above the columns were 
fixed 21 gilded bucklers, offered, at the conclusion of the Achean 
war, by the Roman general Mummius. The gates in the two fronts 
W'ere of brass, and over them were carved the Labours of Hercules. 
Within the cell were double colonnades, between which was the 
approach to the image. 
The Jupiter of Olympia immortalized its maker, Phidias. It was 
of ivory and gold, the head crowned with olive. In the right hand 
was a statue of Victory ; in the left a flowered sceptre, composed of 
various metals, on which was an eagle. The sandals were of gold, 
aff also the vestment, which was curiously embossed with lilies and 
animals. The throne was gold inlaid with ebony and ivory, and 
studded with jewels, intermixed with paintings, and exquisite figures 
in relievo. The pillars between the feet contributed to its support. 
Before it were walls, serving as a fence, decorated principally with 
the exploits of Hercules. The portion opposite the door was of a 
blue colour. It was the office of a family descended from Phidias, 
called Phaedruntse, or the polisher, to keep the work bright and clean. 
The veil or curtain was cloth rich with the purple dye of Phoenicia, 
and with Assyrian embroidery, an offering to king Antiochus, and 
was let down from above by strings. 
The image appeared higher and broader than it measured. Its 
magnitude was such, that though the temple was very large, the 
artist seemed to have erred in the proportions. The god, though 
sitting, nearly touched the ceiling with his head. Apart of the pave- 
ment before it was of black marble, enclosed in a rim of Parian or 
white, where they poured oil to preserve the ivory. 
The altar of Jupiter Olympius was of great antiquity, and covered 
with ashes from the thighs of the victims, which were carried up and 
consumed on the top with wood of the white poplar-tree. The ashes 
also of the Prytaneum, in which a perpetual fire was kept on a hearth, 
were removed annually on a fixed day, and spread on it, being first 
mingled with water from the Alpheus. The cement was made with that 
fluid only ; and therefore this river was esteemed the most friendly of 
any to the god. On each side of the altar were stone steps. Its 
