Temple of Zeus, Olympia in the context of Archaeological Museum of Olympia

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant seated figure, about 12.4 m (41 ft) tall, made by the Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece, and erected in the Temple of Zeus there. Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.

The statue was a chryselephantine sculpture of ivory plates and gold panels on a wooden framework. Zeus sat on a painted cedarwood throne ornamented with ebony, ivory, gold, and precious stones. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Severe style, or Early Classical style, was the dominant idiom of Greek sculpture in the period ca. 490 to 450 BCE. It marks the breakdown of the canonical forms of archaic art and the transition to the greatly expanded vocabulary and expression of the classical moment of the late 5th century. It was an international style found at many cities in the Hellenic world and in a variety of media including: bronze sculpture in the round, stelae, and architectural relief. The style perhaps realized its greatest fulfillment in the metopes of the Temple of Zeus, Olympia.

The term severe style was first coined by Gustav Kramer in his Über den Styl und die Herkunft der bemahlten griechischen Thongefäße ("On the style and the origins of painted Greek pottery", 1837, Berlin) in reference to the first generation of red figure vase painters; since Vagn Poulsen's 1937 study Der strenge Stil ("The Severe Style"), the name has become exclusively associated with sculpture.

Pedimental sculpture is a form of architectural sculpture designed for installation in the tympanum, the space enclosed by the architectural element called the pediment. Originally a feature of Ancient Greek architecture, pedimental sculpture started as a means to decorate a pediment in its simplest form: a low triangle, like a gable, above an horizontal base or entablature. However, as classical architecture developed from the basis of Ancient Greek and Roman architecture, the varieties of pedimental sculpture also developed. The sculpture can be either freestanding or relief sculpture, in which case it is attached to the back wall of the pediment. Harris in The Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture defines pediment as "In classical architecture, the triangular gable end of the roof above the horizontal cornice, often filled with sculpture." Pediments can also be used to crown doors or windows.

In Romanesque architecture, and very often in Gothic architecture, the tympanum is usually semi-circular at the top, and the sculptural groups, usually with religious subjects, adapted to fit the new spaces. In the Renaissance triangular pediments returned, as gradually did sculptural groups within them, becoming very popular for important buildings in the 19th century.

The Stadium at Olympia (also called the Olympia Stadium or the Olympia Stadion) is an ancient stadium at the archaeological site of Olympia, Greece, located to the east of the sanctuary of Zeus. It was the location of many of the sporting events at the Ancient Olympic Games.

Olea oleaster, or wild olive, is a subspecies of the cultivated olive tree, Olea europea. Originating in the Mediterranean Basin, it is considered an ancestor to the modern olive, which was likely domesticated during the fourth and third millennia BCE from multiple local populations.

The wild olive (Ancient Greek κότινος / kótinos), which ancient Greeks distinguished from the cultivated olive (ἐλαία / ἐλἀα), was used to fashion the olive wreath awarded victors at the ancient Olympic games. The ancient and sacred wild olive tree of Olympia stood near the Temple of Zeus, patron of the games.