500 meters south east of acropolis, the ruins of a temple dedicated to the Olympian Zeus is located. This monuments is also known as the Columns of the Olympian Zeus as only 16 of the 104 columns of the structure still remain at the location. Its construction began during 6th century BC by the Athenian tyrants Hippias and Hipparchos with an aim to build one of the greatest temples in the ancient world. The construction of the temple was not completed because of the overthrown of the tyrants by the Athenian democracy. The democratic Athenians believed that it would be an hubris to build a structure of that scale. Specifically, Aristotle in his work Politics, referred to the temple as an example of how tyrannies force people to work in large scale works for the state that takes away all the time, the energy and the means of the people preventing them from reacting. The temple completed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD more that 600 years after its construction started.
Photo taken at Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens
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