The Temple of Zeus, or the Olympeion, was built between the 6th century BC and 2nd century BC, but was never completed. Despite this, and being ransacked for stones by other building projects, it remains a popular ancient ruin site in central Athens.
This is the view from our hotel balcony. Not so bad, huh??
Also from our balcony. The traffic noise on the street wasn't pleasant, but the view was worth it!
The Agora of Athens, as seen from the Acropolis.
The Temple of Hephaestus, as seen from the Acropolis.
Some marble somethings at the Agora.
Detail of the opisthodomos' (inner border) friezes at the Temple of Hephaestus. They depict the Centauromachy, the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths.
The pronaos (outer border) has friezes depicting the battle between Theseus and the Pallantides.
Side note: Hephaestus is my favorite god. I don't know if it's the double underdog status, due to his being crippled and being cuckolded on a regular basis, or if it's just cause he wasn't a flashy, nosy, busybody god like the others and he just went about his smithy business, but he's long been my favorite. On that note, I can tell you first hand that it's not easy to find pottery at the tourist shops that has Hephaestus on it! Athena was, of course, popular, and Zeus and Poseidon (no Hades, though!), then Apollo and Artemis, etc. But very few Hephaestus.
Some statues from the Agora.
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