Olympia housed the Temple of Zeus that contained the famous seated statue.
Olympia was a major sanctuary in the western Peloponnese, where Greeks held the Olympic Games in honor of Zeus. The temple was built in the fifth century BC, and the monumental statue created for it became one of the Seven Wonders.
The statue showed Zeus seated on a throne and was made using chryselephantine technique, with gold plates and ivory over a wooden framework. The sculptor Phidias created it, and ancient writers praised both its scale and the impression of divine majesty it produced inside the temple.
Olympia was not the city of Athens, although Athens also possessed important temples and statues. The sanctuary’s athletic, religious, and political significance made it a gathering place for Greeks from many independent city-states.