The combined ticket for the Acropolis includes free admission to several other historic sites. Most don’t take as long to see as the Acropolis or Agora but they are still very impressive. One of these is the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
The primary difference between this temple and some others we’ve seen is its sheer scale. The columns are enormous, and it’s astounding to think that while 15 remain standing today, at one point there were 104. From conception in the 6th century BC to completion by Emperor Hadrian in 161 AD, the temple took nearly 700 years to finish.
In 1852 a storm blew down one of the columns. It remains exactly where it fell, the stones strewn across the ground like very heavy slices of cake. The rest of the columns likely fell earlier and were taken by Athenians to use for other more mundane purposes.