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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;hotwheelsearl, post: 3382960, member: 75143&quot;]Today we have this series 1943 25,000 drachmai.</p><p><br /></p><p>Obverse features the head of Deidamia, one of the figures found on the West Pediment of Temple of Zeus at Olympia. In the pediment, she is being accosted by a centaur.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]898362[/ATTACH]</p><p>&nbsp;[ATTACH=full]898365[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The two pediments, the East and West are extremely famous and important for our understanding of Early Classical architectural sculpture. This temple boasts two nearly-complete pediments, of which there are only a handful of in existence, the most famous being the pediments of the Parthenon (in much worse condition), and the pediments of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina, notable for both the superb state of preservation of the status but also of the temple itself.</p><p><br /></p><p>The pediments survived so well because when the temple proper was felled for the last time in an earthquake, the statues all fell off and were neatly buried underneath the rubble. This protected them from the elements as well as from foragers who loved to grind up marble statues into lime for plaster.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]898366[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]898363[/ATTACH] </p><p>Reverse features the remains of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. It looks like today only one column is still standing, however.</p><p>The temple is most famous for housing the great statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. This statue stood here for quite a while, until it was taken to Constantinople by a later Roman emperor. There is still stood for some time, until it was finally destroyed by a fire - perhaps a gloomy harbinger of the fate of many pagan temples and artifacts.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today, the temple is in ruins, as is most of the sanctuary at Olympia. A real shame, as in its heyday it was a sight to see, well capable of competing with the Athenian Acropolis for beauty and grandeur.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]898370[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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