Situated 31km southwest of Corinth, on the northeastern edge of modern Nemea, Ancient Nemea was once the venue for the biennial Nemean Games, held in honour of Zeus. Three original columns of the imposing 4th-century-BC Doric Temple of Zeus survive, and the on-site museum displays rich finds from the area. The stadium where the Games were held is nearby; once connected to the sanctuary by a sacred road, it plays host to the resurrected Games once again, the next in 2016.
Like Ancient Olympia, Nemea was not a city but a sanctuary of Zeus. The Nemean Games were hosted by the nearby city of Kleonai and became one of the great Panhellenic festivals. There's a mythological side to Nemea as well: it was around here that Hercules carried out the first of his labours – the slaying of the lion that had been sent by Hera to destroy Nemea. After Hercules had killed the lion by lifting it off the ground and choking it to death, using his prodigious strength, the lion became the constellation Leo (each of Hercules' 12 labours is related to a sign of the zodiac).
It's worth visiting the site’s museum before seeing the remains of the temple. It has two models of the ancient site – the first shows what it would have looked like in 573 BC, the second in AD 500 – as well as ancient paraphernalia from the Games and treasures from the area's Mycenaean tombs. The jewel of the collection, quite literally, is the Gold of Aidonia, an exquisite assortment of gold rings, seals and beads from the site of Aidonia, near Nemea. Don’t miss the video that explains the extraordinarily advanced race-starting mechanism (English subtitles).
At the temple site, the three original columns of the 4th-century-BC Temple of Zeus have been joined by six more, reassembled by an American team; reconstruction is in progress. Other ruins include a bathhouse, probably used by athletes to oil up precompetition, and a hostelry.
The stadium is 500m back along the road. There's a fantastic view of it in all its restored glory from the the path that skirts it through the pine trees. Alternatively, enter it the way the athletes would have done, through the tunnel hidden behind the columns by the site entrance. The athletes’ starting line is still in place, together with the distance markers. Look out for ancient ‘graffiti’ in the tunnel. Resurrected in 1996, the two-day Modern Nemean Games (www.nemeangames.org) occur for two days each Olympic year in June.
