Olympia thus became a recognized Panhellenic institution after the establishment of Elean supremacy in 572 B.C. ; and to the last remained a central expression of the Greek ideas that the body of man has a glory as well as his intellect and spirit, that body and mind should alike be disciplined, and that it is by the harmonious discipline of both that men best honour Zeus. The significance of Olympia was larger and higher than the political fortunes of the Greeks who met there, and it survived the over throw of Greek independence. In the Macedonian and Roman ages the temples and contests of Olympia still interpreted the ideal at which free Greece had aimed. Philip of Macedon and Nero are among those who have record in the Altis. According to Cedrenus, a Greek writer of the II th century (Synopsis, i. 326), the Olympian festival ceased to be held after A.D. 393, the first year of the 293rd Olympiad. The list of Olympian victors, which begins in 776 B.C. with Coroebus of Elis, closes with the name of an Armenian, Varastad, who is said to have belonged to the race of the Arsacidae. In the 5th century desolation had set in.
The chryselephantine statue of the Olympian Zeus, by Pheidias, was carried to Constantinople, and perished in a great fire, A.D. 476. The Temple of Zeus was dismantled, either by Goths or by Christian zeal, in the reign of Theodosius II. (A.D. 402-450). The temple of Zeus, probably thrown down by earthquakes in the 6th century A.D., and the region south of it became a fortress, constructed from materials found among the ancient buildings.
Excavations.—The German excavations were begun in 1875, and completed in 1881. The deposit of earth over the Altis from the overflowing of the Cladeus had an average depth of 16 ft.; it was also necessary to excavate, especially on the west, the south and the east, several ancient buildings not included within the sacred precinct. Moreover in many places early Greek work had later Greek on top of it, or late Greek work had been overlaid with Roman.
The form of the Altis is not regularly rectangular. The west side is about 215 yd. ; the south side is about equally long; the east side, about zoo yd. ; the north side, behind the treasure houses, about 275 yd.