Temple of Olympian Zeus

Because Athens isn't on an island it wasn't included in our "Greek Islands" tour guide. We stumbled upon these cool ruins on our way from the Olympic Stadium to the Acropolis. They turned out to be the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Gate.

Here is another blatant cut and paste from Wikipedia about these ruins :

"The Temple of Olympian Zeus also known as the Olympieion, is a colossal ruined temple in the centre of the Greek capital Athens that was formerly dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (sidenote-we think Hadrian rocks!) in the 2nd century AD some 650 years after the project had begun. During the Roman periods it was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues in the ancient world.
The temple's glory was shortlived, as it fell into disuse after being pillaged in a barbarian invasion in the 3rd century AD. It was probably never repaired and was reduced to ruins thereafter. In the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, the temple was extensively quarried for building materials to supply building projects elsewhere in the city. Despite this, substantial remains remain visible today and it continues to be a major tourist attraction."

HADRIAN'S GATE

and the Emperor Hadrian

(This is the guy who is the

namesake of "Adrianus" in

Dutch, a name which Johannes

and Matthijas carry.)