Olympia: Diachronic Development of the Votive Gifts from the 10th to the 5th Centuries B.C. in the Sanctuary of Zeus

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The aim of project cooperation between the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz and the Athens Department of the German Archaeological Institute is the analysis of the diachronic development of the largely metal votive offerings in the Zeus sanctuary of Olympia from the Protogeometric to the Classical period (10th to 5th centuries B.C.), using consistently archaeological and statistical methods. In this way, for the first time an overview of the history of the dedication customs in Olympia shall be developed basing on the available sources. Our aim is to produce results on the origins and intentions of the dedicators, the presentation of votive gifts and the development of votive offerings and cults in a diachronic perspective, the activities in the sanctuary and the gods worshipped in the sanctuary. Based on the huge amount of votive offerings discovered in Olympia and meanwhile published, it is possible to analyse these themes using a solid and mostly carefully edited source base and thus to provide a substantial contribution to the history of the pan-Hellenic cult place in the first half of the 1st millennium B.C.