Olympia, Greece
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The Olympic Games began in Olympia, 2,700 years ago in southwest Greece.
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The Games were part of a religious festival. The Greek Olympics, thought to have begun in 776 BC, inspired the modern Olympic Games (begun in 1896) The Games were held in honour of Zeus, king of the gods, and were staged every four years at Olympia, a valley near a city called Elis. People from all over the Greek world came to watch and take part.
Church Elements
Greek Theatre
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Most Greek cities had a theatre. It was in the open air, and was usually a bowl-shaped arena on a hillside. Some theatres were very big, with room for more than 15,000 people in the audience.
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All the actors, Dancers and singers, called the chorus, performed on a flat area called the orchestra. Over time, solo actors also took part, and a raised stage became part of the theatre. The actors changed costumes in a hut called the "skene". Painting the walls of the hut made the first scenery.
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The plays were comedies (funny, often poking fun at rulers) or tragedies (sad and serious, with a lesson about right and wrong).
Stoa Poikile
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The Stoa Poikile was built in the fifth century B.C.E. and quickly became a Center for Athenian Art where paintings by Mikon, Panainos, Polygnotos of Thasos and others were put on display.
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The Stoa Poikile was one of the most famous sites in ancient Athens, owing its fame to the paintings and loot from wars displayed in it.
The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion
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The Erechtheion or Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis of Athens in Greece which was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon.
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A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese.
The ancient Greeks
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They invented three types of columns to support their buildings. Each was beautiful. From a distance, each column looked straight, But up close, the columns might actually tilt a bit, or lean left or right, to better support each building. The Greeks wanted things to be beautiful, but they also wanted things to be strong.
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Nearly every public building in ancient Greece incorporated one or more of these three designs. Even in ancient Sparta, these three column designs could be found all over town. These designs are still used today. These designs have certainly withstood the test of time.
The Doric style is the most plain.
The Ionic design is famous for its scrolls.
The Corinthian style is quite fancy.
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