The Olympia Site in Greece

The games were held in honor of Zeus, the supreme god in Greek mythology, and visitors to Olympia were making a pilgrimage to Zeus's most sacred place, the grove known as Altis (Swaddling 7). There are several legends regarding the origin of the games, and the date ascribed to that event is traditional but uncertain. Indeed, competitions were held on an annual basis before 776 BC on an unofficial basis. One of the legends involved the Delphic Oracle calling for the reinstitution of the games after a period of civil war, and the idea of the Olympic Truce would become a major instrument in the unification of the Greek states and colonies (Swaddling 9).

The Olympia site was rediscovered in 1766 by Richard Chandler, an English antiquarian. The site had been chosen originally for its strategic position but was destroyed by natural forces peculiar to that area, such as earthquakes and winter storms. Full-scale excavations would not be carried out until 1875 (Swaddling 13). The site contained more than two dozen major buildings and structures around the hill of Knossos, and these included religious and civic monuments as we

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ypt, showing the Egyptian style of having the hands clenched in a fist. Later in that century, the influence becomes more pronounced with the kouroi youths statues, which "follow the stylistic laws of Egyptian sculpture in the position of the arms and in the hands clenched in a fist, as well as having one foot advanced" (Akurgal 176). In both Egyptian and Greek statutes of the time, the head and body are upright with eyes, mouth, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles all level. There are also differences--the Egyptian statue wears a kilt, while the Greek figure is nude (Woodford 40). Many other influences were at work in Greece at this time as well, notably from Syrian, Hittite, and similar sources. These would be mixed with the Egyptian influences, and over time these influences would be developed in a new way in Greek art that would later in turn influence the development of Roman art and other Hellenized parts of the Ancient world. Monumental, free-standing sculpture first appeared around 600 B.C. in the early stages of the Archaic period, and this was probably influenced by foreign sources such as Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Hera (c. 560 B.C.) is an early example. The Archaic period included a number of examples of the kou
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1888
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)