The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-01-30
TIE EXCAVATION OF OLYMPIA.

THE TREASURES OF ANTIQUITY THE GERMANS AR
UNEARTHING.
The excavations now going on at the sit
| of ancient Olympia, in Greece, under the di
| rection of the German government, are on
| scale and are directed with an intelIigenc,
| which promises the securing of rich additions
| 10 the store of the treasures of Grecan an
tiquities. By an agreement with the Greel
government, ratified last year, Germany Sc
| cured the EXCLUSIVES right, for term OF years
| to make excavations at its own discretion any
| where in the kingdom Of Greece. Germany
| conducts the excavations solely in the in
terests Of arcl biological SCIENCE, resi-. ms
to Greece all claims to tho possession
| Of the objects discovered, leaving it to the
Greeks, at their option, to give the German;
only such antiquities as may bs regarded as
duplicates. lie sum appropriated for the
excavations BY Germany is 500 600, and last
September they we're begun at Olympia, as
suggested by the distinguished arcba Jlogist,
Ernest Curtius, who, thirty years ago, advo
Gated such an expedition. The antiquities
| already discovered justify Curtius's anticipa.
tions. Several statues mentioned by Pausanias
have already been unearthed, and the total OF
the fruits OF the opening up of the seat Of the
Olympian games promises to b. Of vast inter-
est to students of Antiquities and lovers Of art.
The description of the temple and adjacent
buildings at Olympia written by Pausanias,
is more accurate than any which we possess
Of any other temple of antiquity, and serves
as guide to the explorers. The alluvial de.
posts from the wash of the Olympian Hills,
and the overfows of the Alpheios must have
preserved many objects of art that, had they
been exposed on the rocky SUFFICE, into which
they could not sink, and where they could
not be covered by such deposits, would have
been destroyed.
Pausani.ss description informs rs that in
the era of the Antonines, Notwithstanding the
ravages Of a Nero and the destruction and
plumber of single works of art, the treasure
house of Olympic had suffered no essential
harm. Later, many treas re may have been
carried off to Constantinople; aud the Goths
beyond all doubt, let q general devastation
sweep over the Altis. But the greed of the
barb.rians was for precious metal, and the
single portable works of art which were car
ried away by individuals c,n have COM
posed but small part of the inexhaustible
supply which the accumulation of more
than eight centuries had collected together
within this narrow area. That, too, which is
Of the greatest value, the great monuments Of
public worship, the temples, with the statues
which they contained, aad finally tAe records,
written on bronze and stone these are treas
ures on which we may be sure that neither
Romans nor barb 4rians have laid their hands.
The temple OF Zsus, at Olympia, in its entire.
ty, is one of the most interesting architectu-
raj works of antiquity, so that every enlarge
mept Of our knowledge in regard to it is sig
nifcant.
Olympia, however, as Curtius says, will
never prove a second Pompeii, for such an
abundance of articles pertaining to the house.
hold, and Of daily use, is not to be looked for,
where a city in the proper sense ofthe word has
never existed; but it will reveal, on the other
hand, what an Italian provincial city could
not be expected to afford-a compact group
of sacred and public edlfces, whose ground
plan it will be possible to clearly trace; re.
mains Of genuine Greek plastic art, in bronze
and marble; and votive offerings, the gifts of
States and individuals, of epochs the most re-
mote from each other.
We shall be able to take our bearings on
the soil with which all Pindar's Olympic odes
an acquaintance; and while else
where, even in Athens, we are surrounded by
only local antiquities and memorials OF mu-
nlcipal history, We may here expect monu-
nents originating in all the various regions
by the Greeks; for we stand upon
The intellectual center OF Greece, and open
The richest archieves of Greek history; and
We may also hope to find records of the agree
nents and treaties concluded between differ
INT States, which, though to US of the great
'st value, could not in the least have excited
he greed Of Romans, Byzantines, or Cloths