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.htm
RECONSTRUCTION OF ANCIENT OLYMPIA IN 3D COMPUTER GRAPHICS
A Landscape Analysis of Classical Site
Juko ITO", Kohei IWABUCHI?
1) Assoc. Prof., Graduate School of Science and Technology., Kumamoto Univ., Japan
2) Post Graduate Student, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto Univ., Japan
Commission V, working Group WG V/5
KEY WORDS: Olympia, Computer Graphics, Archaeology, Classical Sites, Landscape
ABSTRACT
Olympia is one of the most famous sanctuaries in Greece, as well as the Acropolis at Athens, Delphi and Delos, and also certainly
well known as the birth place of the ancient Olympic games. The Sanctuary continued almost one thousand years from the Archaic to
Roman periods and transformed its landscape from time to time. Its buildings like the Temples of Zeus and Hera, stoas, treasuries,
monuments, etc. However, for visitors and even for researchers it is very difficult to imagine how the site looked like in antiquity,
because they are now completely in ruin. The authors reconstructed, in computer graphics, the topography and the buildings in
Olympia, and tried to analyze its unique landscape of the site as the ancient visitors viewpoint.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problems
3D computer graphics (CG) is now in use in every field of
science and technology. As for architectural design it is used to
show final views, exterior or interior, of buildings. It is very
convenient tool for architects to check and correct their design
in advance, and for clients to be able to have would-be views to
be constructed. As well, concerning archaeology, especially
classical archaeology, most of the sites are almost in ruin and it
is fairly difficult to have vivid images of what they looked like
in antiquity, especially for visitors who are not specialists it is
almost impossible without help of reconstructed drawing. That
is a reason why visualization of archaeological sites by 3D CG
draws public attention recently.
Perspective drawings in traditional way have been drawn to
show how the sites looked like on the whole. As far as concerns
Olympia, a classical site in Peloponnesos, Greece, there are
some perspective drawings of the site, academic or
non-academic, but they are drawn from one view point
sometimes from in the air, because to show the site
explanatorily on the whole. For the analysis of the landscape or
townscape, three dimensional expression is definitely necessary
to show the actual views from human viewpoints. Visualization
of ruined sites in 3D CG helps people to understand much better
together with the use of drawings and photographs of the sites.
1.2 Objective
The objective of this paper is to analyze the landscape of
ancient Olympia using computer graphics. The ancient
buildings at the site have been excavated by German
archaeologists since 19" century, but their superstructures were
gone and we can see only floors and traces of low walls, lying
columns on the ground, etc. It is very hard even for specialists
to imagine how the site looked like in ancient time when all the
buildings and monuments were standing. We reconstructed all
the buildings in Olympia in 3D computer graphics and analyzed
the views of the ancient site from many different view angles,
experiencing the space of the sanctuary as the ancient Greek
did.
The excavation of the site was started in 19" century by German
archaeologists, The site, which was called Altis in antiquity, was
a place of settlement from the prehistoric time and became a
holy place in classical antiquity. The religious festival, which
was called Olympic game and was held every four years, was
well known to all the Greeks and they ceased fire during the
game and participated in it.
The site is on the plane at the junction of two rivers, the
Kladeos and Alpheios. as Olympic game, is on the plane area at
a junction of two small rivers.
The present site of Olympia is covered by many pine trees, and
the ruins of ancient buildings are located here and there among
them. In addition, around the Zeus temple are scattered small
monuments in jumble, and along its processional way the views
change quite variably as the visitors proceed through the
sanctuary. So, it is definitely necessary to make dynamic
analysis of the landscape and 3D CG is quite effective for that
purpose.
1.3. Modeling
The authors tried to model most of all the buildings in the
Sanctuary at Olympia. The hardware for modeling is an
ordinary windows machine, and software Autocad. The base
map of the site is on the guide book of German Archaeological
Institute. 1) The architectural studies for each building have been
done by German architects and archaeologists, and their results
were already published with plans, elevations and sections. We
depend on these publications for all the architectural
information of the buildings in the present paper. 2)
2. SITE
2.1 Location and History
Olympia is one of the famous classical sites in Greece together
with the Acropolis at Athens and the Apollo Sanctuary at
Delphi. It was especially known as a place of Olympic game in
antiquity. It is located in western part of Peloponnesos. The site
is on the plane river bed of the Alpheios, where the Cladeos
goes into it. To the north of the site is the low Kronos Hill. The
history of the site goes back to the prehistoric period, and the
ruins which we can see now are dated from Archaic to
Hellenistic period.
2.2 Buildings
The site occupies the plane area of cene 1: at the entrance
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