Architecture and Architectural Sculpture
The decades following the removal of the Persian threat are universally
considered the high point of Greek civilization. This is the era of the
dramatists Sophocles and Euripides, as well as Aeschylus; the historian
Herodotus; the statesman Pericles; the philosopher Socrates; and many
of the most famous Greek architects, sculptors, and painters.TEMPLE OF ZEUS, OLYMPIAThe first great monument
of Classical art and architecture is the Temple of Zeus at Olympia,
site of the Olympic Games. The temple was begun about 470BCE
and was probably completed by 457BCE. The architect was Libon of
Elis. Today the structure is in ruins, its picturesque tumbled column
drums an eloquent reminder of the effect of the passage of time on
even the grandest monuments humans have built. A good idea of its
original appearance can be gleaned, however, from a slightly later
Doric temple modeled closely on the Olympian shrine of Zeus—the
second Temple of Hera (FIG. 5-30) at Paestum. The plans and ele-
vations of both temples follow the pattern of the Temple of Aphaia
(FIGS. 5-26and 5-27) at Aegina: an even number of columns (six) on
the short ends, two columns in antis, and two rows of columns in
two stories inside the cella. But the Temple of Zeus was more lavishly
decorated than even the Aphaia temple. Statues filled both pedi-
ments, and the six metopes over the doorway in the pronaos and the
matching six of the opisthodomos were adorned with reliefs.The subject of the Temple of
Zeus’s east pediment (FIG. 5-31)
had deep local significance: the char-
iot race between Pelops (from whom
the Peloponnesos takes its name) and
King Oinomaos. The story is a sinis-
ter one. Oinomaos had one daughter, Hippodameia, and it was fore-
told that he would die if she married. Consequently, Oinomaos chal-
lenged any suitor who wished to make Hippodameia his bride to a
chariot race from Olympia to Corinth. If the suitor won, he also won
the hand of the king’s daughter. But if he lost, he was killed. The out-
come of each race was predetermined, because Oinomaos possessed
the divine horses of his father Ares. To ensure his victory when all
others had failed, Pelops resorted to bribing the king’s groom, Myr-
tilos, to rig the royal chariot so that it would collapse during the race.
Oinomaos was killed and Pelops won his bride, but he drowned
Myrtilos rather than pay his debt to him. Before he died, Myrtilos
brought a curse on Pelops and his descendants. This curse led to the
murder of Pelops’s son Atreus and to events that figure prominently
in some of the greatest Greek tragedies of the Classical era, Aeschy-
lus’s three plays known collectively as the Oresteia: the sacrifice by
Atreus’s son Agamemnon of his daughter Iphigeneia; the slaying of
Agamemnon by Aegisthus, lover of Agamemnon’s wife Clytaemnes-
tra; and the murder of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra by Orestes, the
son of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra.
Indeed, the pedimental statues (FIG. 5-31), which faced toward
the starting point of all Olympic chariot races, are posed as actors
on a stage—Zeus in the center, Oinomaos and his wife on one side,
Pelops and Hippodameia on the other, and their respective chariots
to each side. All are quiet. The horrible events known to every5-30Temple of Hera II, Paestum,
Italy, ca. 460 bce.
The second Hera temple at Paestum
was modeled on Libon’s Temple of
Zeus at Olympia. The Paestum temple
reflects the Olympia design, but the
later building lacks the pedimental
sculpture of its model.5-31East pediment from the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, ca. 470–456 bce.Marble, 87wide. Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
The east pediment of the Zeus temple depicts the chariot race between Pelops and Oinomaos, which began at Olympia. The actors in the pediment
faced the starting point of Olympic chariot races.Early and High Classical Periods 1191 ft.5-31AWest
pediment,
Temple of Zeus,
Olympia, ca.
470–456 BCE.