The museums at Ancient Olympia
This is for those with an interest in seeing some of the incredible finds at the site of Ancient Olympia. Not everything here relates to the Olympic Games, not by a long shot. The artefacts show that people lived in the area around Olympia, they buried their loved ones here, they ate and drank and held ceremonies here, dating back through millennia. It is, honestly, humbling and awe-inspiring.
There are two museums at Olympia, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games. Both are well worth a visit. There’s actually a fair bit of overlap in the material found at both so we’ve amalgamated the things we found most interesting, below.
The artefacts below relate to the time of earliest occupation of the site at Olympia, the late Neolithic period (4300-3100 BCE) to the Early Helladic I (3100-2700 BCE).
[Warning: contains reference to infant burial]
These items below from the Olympia site date from the late Bronze Age / Late Helladic Period – also known as the Mycenaean Period (1600-1100 BCE) – it’s confusing when there are three names for more or less the same era! These items relate specifically to burials. Evidence of habitation of the community to which those burials related has not yet been found. These items below were found in burial chambers dating around 1400-1300 BCE:
These pots were all found in the chamber tombs at Olympia and date from the Mycenaean period. The design of these items below is typical of the this period.
3-handled amphora (a tall jug with a narrow neck); and flask, both second half of the 14th century BCE 
Top: lidded pitcher, 12th century BCE; Below: tripod pyxia (box), early 11th century BCE 
Left: jug, first half of 12th century BCE; Right: kernos (a pottery tray to which small vessels are attached for holding offerings), second half of 12th century BCE 
3-handled amphora, early 11th century BCE
These tiny figurines below number close to 6,000 and were found at what is thought to have been the ‘Altar of Zeus’, in the open air near the Temple of Hera and Pelopion (the alleged tomb of Pelops). No trace of the Altar remains, aside from these tiny figurines which are thought to have been placed in the pyre as gifts to honour Zeus.
We do, however, have the following description of the Altar, as given by Pausanias who visited Olympia in the second century (the following I have taken from the description given by Olympia Vickatou, archaeologist, on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Sports):
[The Altar] was a circular or elliptical structure, approximately six and a half metres high, and consisted of a platform and the altar proper. The platform was three metres high with steps on the sides. On the platform stood the conical altar, nine and a half metres in diameter, made of the ashes of the sacrificed animals. A narrow staircase carved into the ash led to the top. Blood sacrifices in honour of Zeus were performed daily. The sacrifice took place on the platform and the legs of the sacrificial animal were then taken by the priests to the top of the altar to be burnt. Women were allowed on the platform but not on the altar where only priests and men had access. On the ninth day of the month Elaphion (late March) the sanctuary soothsayers would bring ash from the altar of Hestia inside the Prytaneion, mix it with water from the river Alpheios, and use it to coat the altar of Zeus. According to Pausanias only water from Alpheios, the god’s favoured river, would do. Also only poplar was used for the sacrificial fire, since this was the wood chosen by Hercules when he sacrificed to Zeus.
Ministry of Culture and Sports | Altar of Zeus at Olympia
Many tripods of varying sizes were found at the site of Olympia. It is thought that these tripods served a number of functions, relating to preparation of food but also having religious connotations and being awarded as prizes in the Olympic Games. Two distinct styles of tripod were found here; those from the Geometric period (900-700 BCE) and then also from the later Archaic period (750-650 BCE). The Geometric-style tripod had a large bowl with three legs attached, whereas the tripod from the later period had a bowl placed on top of a three-legged stand which was perhaps more practical as the bowl could be removed and placed elsewhere. It is thought that the larger tripods served a symbolic purpose whereas the smaller tripods were more likely to have been in practical use for cooking and serving food.
Black-figure pottery dates from between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, around the Archaic period. The black figures give the impression of silhouettes against a light background.
This bowl below is called a skyphos which is a deep, two-handled cup on a low base. This black-figure skyphos was found in Thebes and is dated 540-520 BCE. Its connection with Olympia is that it was awarded as a prize to Spyros Louis who won the marathon at the first Olympics, when they were first recommenced in Athens in 1896. The University of Münster in Germany gifted the skyphos back to Greece in 2019.
More black figure artefacts; a cup depicting a race for four-horse carriages, and three lekythoi. The lekythos was used for storing oil, particularly olive oil. These items are all dated around 530-490 BCE.
6th century BCE
The Greek alphabet began with the adoption of Phoenician letter forms, and it is thought that this first happened in the early 8th century BCE. The earliest known Greek inscriptions date from 770–750 BCE and they match Phoenician letter forms of c. 800–750 BCE.
Bronze winged figure from 590-580 BCE; thought perhaps to be Artemis, Nike or a Sphinx
Bronze lion’s head, thought to have been attached to a shield, dating from the 8th century BCE
Bronze sheet in the shape of a winged Gorgon, from a shield. Hammered and cut out. It depicts a demonic Gorgon with the tail of a fish and feet of a lion. In the middle it is girdled with snakes and it wears a helmet with a crest on its head.
6th century BCE
More items of defence:
The size of this item was astounding. This is one of the terracotta discoid acroteria which sat on top of each apex of each pediment at the Temple of Hera. An acroterion is a decorative pedestal on which a statue would be placed, on top of a pediment. The pediment is is the triangular gable at the end of a sloping roof.
There were many more statues such as these just lined up along a wall outside the museum!
All in all, the museums at Olympia are well worth a visit, several times over!