The Location of Ancient Olympia

The site of ancient Olympia is located 10km inland in the territory of Elis in the northwestern Peloponnese. The sanctuary of Olympia lies on a plain bordered by the Alpheos river on the south, the Kladeos river on the west, and the Kronion (the hill of Kronos) on the north. The Altis, the grove which served as the religious center of the sanctuary, was found near the base of the Kronion, enclosed by a wall.

In the Geometric period, the only architecture in the Altis were the walls of the Pelopion (the open-air sanctuary where the hero Pelops was supposedly buried) altars to Hestia and Hera, and the great ash altar of Zeus at the spot where his thunderbolt had supposedly struck the palace of King Oinomaos.

The Alpheos River