The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Olympia (ancient Greece)

OLYMPIA, a plain of Elis in ancient Greece, on the right bank of the Alpheus, about a third of a mile from the town of Pisa. It was the scene of the Olympic games, and was also famous for its sacred grove, where stood the great temple of Jupiter Olympius, founded by the Eleans in 512 B. C., and containing the colossal gold and ivory statue of the god, the masterpiece of Phidias. The grove (which was surrounded by a wall) and its immediate neighborhood contained numerous other temples and public buildings, collectively, like the plain, called Olympia.