Robin Hutton - Post 1: Temple of Hera, Olympia

           Today, 5/31, we visited the temple of Hera. I found this temple very intriguing because it is the oldest temple that has been found. Dating back to 600 BC, the temple was built differently than most, which I found to be the most interesting detail about this temple. The temple was originally built with a mix of wood, stone, and mud and because of this, the temple had many reconstructive periods where new columns were installed. This was amazing to me because the columns were not all the same size or constructed at the same time but the temple was able to stand and be used often. Another fact I found astonishing was that the Olympic champions were able to put a bronze plate, inscribed with their name, on the temple. This blew my mind because it seemed to me as if the names were taking away from the original reason for the temple, which was to honor and make sacrifices to Hera. Having other peoples' names hung on the temple was unexpected to me because I would have thought nothing would take the light off of the temple and god it was dedicated too. Also, on the same note, it was surprising to me that there would be a sculpture of a different god in the temple of Hera. At the end of Grace's presentation, I learned there was a statue of Zeus in her temple. Aristotle said that Hera was sculpted sitting in a chair while the sculpture of Zeus was him standing up. I found this interesting because to me, the largest or tallest sculptures would hold or depict the greatest importance. This thought is reassured by looking at the pediments on the temple of Zeus; On both the east and west pediments, the gods (Zeus and Apollo) were the largest and most central sculptures. However, in the temple of Hera, she was seated while Zeus was standing which makes me wonder if there is something about the temple we don't know. To wrap it up, our day in Olympia was very enjoyable because the site was so large and held so many important cites all in one area. It was also spectacular that we were able to walk on the ground that many Olympic Games, including the first, were held!