A number of people lived close to the sanctuary and were permanently charged with such tasks, as it happened with any other cult site.
The Theokoleon, built west of the Altis outside the sacred enclosure, was named after the Theokoloi the priests of Olympia who used it as their quarters along with the Prytaneion. Other permanent staff entitled to access and use the building included the bearers of sacrificial animals, soothsayers, oracle interpreters, pipers, as well as a person responsible for providing wood for the numerous sacrificial pyres. The original square structure (19 x 19 metres) was built in the mid-5th century BC and consisted of eight rooms, four of which had access to the court at the centre of the building through openings distyle in antis (small stoas of two columns). This type of connection to the court probably means those rooms were unlikely living quarters. By the Hellenistic Era, three more rooms were added to the east, while the most substantial extension was made during the Roman period. An entirely new complex was built alongside the existing one; the central peristyle garden court of the new structure was surrounded by a multitude of rooms, covering an overall surface of more than 1550 square metres.
