A monumental fountain constructed by Herodes Attikos and his wife Regilla in 160. It supplied drinking water to those who gathered here for the Games.
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| The statues of the Herodes' Nymphaion housed in the museum |
The monument was of two stories and the reservoir also was of two stories. The building was apsidal in shape (16.62m in diameter) and each floor had 11 niches. On the upper niches were installed the marble statues of Herodes' family members and on the lower niches were those of the emperor Antoninus Pius' family (some of the statues are housed in the Archaeological museum of Olympia). However, in the central niches of both of the stories, there were statues of Zeus.
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| Marble bull dedicated by Regilla |
The upper reservoir was semi-circular in pararel with the apsidal building and the lower reservoir was rectangular. The walls used to be decorated with polychrome marble. Regilla's marble bull - now housed in the museum - was standing at the center of the upper reservoir.
At the both ends of the rectangular reservoir, there was a circular colonnaded kiosk ('naiskos'). Inside, one housed the statue of Herodes Attikos and the other one an emperor, either Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius.
Reference
- Robin Barber, Greece (Blue Guide), London- N.Y. 2001 (Revised reprint of the 6th edition of 1995), p. 323.
- Olympia Vikatou, Olympia : the Archaeological Site and the Museums, translated by Myriam Caskey, Athens : Ekdotike Athenon, 2006, pp. 25-26.
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