Also known as the Poikile (=painted) Stoa, the Echo Stoa is not to be confused with the monument of the same name in the Athenian agora.

To understand the significance of this monument, it is essential to bear in mind the importance of hero cults in Greece, as well as the mythological background on the hero Pelops, which forms the core of the founding myth of the Olympic Games and connects the event with the land of Pelops, the Peloponnese.

The Palaestra was the minor component of the Gymnasium complex built west of the Altis, by the Kladeos river.

Herodes Atticus was a wealthy Greek aristocrat of the 2nd century AD, who received classical education as a sophist and managed to reach the highest ranks of consul and senator in the Roman Republic.

Divine mothers are venerated in many religions, and the titaness Rhea, mother (Anc. Greek meter>metroon) of the Olympian Gods, was not an exception in Ancient Greek religion.

The first baths ever built at the site of Olympia were a small complex west of the sanctuary, close to the River Kladeos.

Built around 330 BC just outside the sacred enclosure of the Altis, this luxurious building was reserved for the wealthy and distinguished guests who stayed in the sanctuary during the Olympic Games.

The cult of heroes was an important part of Greco-Roman religious practice and worship.

The flat strip of land located at the northwest of the sanctuary of Olympia, adjacent to the bank of the river Kladeos, was the ideal space to accommodate the compound of the Gymnasium and the Palaestra.

As we have seen elsewhere in the course of our tour around Greek archaeological sites, sanctuaries were places of paramount importance not only in terms of religion and worship, but also as places to exhibit wealth, power, and political prowess.

Arguably the greatest sculptor of Classical Antiquity, Pheidias created numerous masterpieces from 460 to 430 BC, including the two chryselephantine statues of Athena and Zeus in Athens and Olympia, respectively, with the latter being one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. 

The small castle stands atop the hill, 240 metres above the central gate.