Once one of the largest temples in the Greek world. In 6C B.C., the sons of Pisistrates wished to raise a huge temple, but their downfall interrupted the work, only to be restarted in the 2C B.C. The temple was only completed in 132 A.D., under Emperor Hadrian, who erected a huge statue to Zeus. The Olympieion, destroyed by the barbarians, was used as a stone quarry in the Middle Ages. Admire the 15 remaining Corinthian columns; Chateaubriand compared them to palm trees of Egypt!