Walking around the Stadium, the Gymnasium and the Temples of Zeus and Hera – both instrumental in the ritual and competitive part of the Games – modern visitors will be able to understand why the event remained relevant even when the rest of the Ancient World was long dead. All the buildings you can still admire were erected to please the gods and send a message to the thousands of visitors who swarmed to the sacred grounds. Known to the world as the cradle of the Olympic ideal, this open-air museum of imposing ruins and unique artefacts tells a story of religious piety, fair play, political ambition, and demonstration of power. The significance of the archaeological site is self-evident, even if one is not familiar with the fascinating historical details and the political background, which literally span thousands of years. and the king of Asini, whom we’ve been trying to find for two years now, unknown, forgotten by all, even by Homer, only one word in the Iliad and that uncertain, thrown here like the gold burial mask.'Īncient Olympia What can be said of Olympia and not sound like a cliché? This idol inspired the Nobel Prize winner Greek poet George Seferis in composing the poem with the same name that made ancient Asine famous all over the world. How much pain, how much fear and hope was installed onto them? Nevertheless, the exhibit with the greatest archaeological significance is the Mycenaean terracotta head of the 12th cent. Our attention is also attracted by the terracotta masks, the evil-deterring symbols from the Palace of Tyrins (7th century BCE) that were deposited during ceremonies. Time erased its secrets and all reflections on it. Instead of a handle, it features a Caryatid and on one side, a lion. It was found in 1994 and belongs to the 5th century BCE.

Due to its weight, they believe that perhaps it wasn't a battle armour but an official attire that may had 'accompanied' the warrior-ruler to his eternal home.Ī mirror of exquisite beauty and artistry was found at the acropolis of ancient Hermione.

The helmet is decorated with forty boar's tusks, a fact that suggests the soldier's skill. It was found in the Tholos Tomb of Dendra and belonged to a Mycenaean ruler. There, among the exhibits, the element that drives our imagination wild is a bronze panoply of the 14th BCE. The exhibits are dated from Prehistoric, Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and the Bronze periods. The building with the great history and the continuous use for four centuries has a total size of 580 square meters. At this amazing three story building of 1713, we find collections with historic exhibits from the Prehistoric and Mycenaean periods, from Mycenae, Tiryns, Asine and the surrounding areas.

Bronze panoply