Panathenaic Stadium

Athens, Greece. The marble stadium rebuilt to open the modern Olympic era

Overview

Built in marble by Lykourgos around 330 BC and greatly enlarged by Herodes Atticus to seat perhaps 50,000, the horseshoe shaped track hosted the athletics of the Panathenaic festival. Rebuilt in Pentelic marble with funds left by Evangelis Zappas, it staged the opening and closing of the 1896 Games and hosted archery and the marathon finish in 2004. Athenians call it the Kallimarmaro, the beautiful marble.