<P> The installation of the colossal statue coincided with substantial modification of the cella . The internal columns and their stylobates were dismantled and repositioned, which likely necessitated retiling the roof . The original floor, paved with large blocks of shell stone, was covered with water - resistant lime, which may have helped protect the statue's ivory against humidity . </P> <P> The Roman general Mummius dedicated twenty - one gilded shields after he sacked Corinth in 146 BCE; they were fixed at the metopes of the eastern front side and the eastern half of the south side . In CE 426, Theodosius II ordered the destruction of the sanctuary during the Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire . Earthquakes in 522 and 551 devastated the ruins and left the Temple of Zeus partially buried . </P> <P> The site of the ancient sanctuary, long forgotten under landslips and flood siltation, was identified in 1766 . In 1829 a French team partially excavated the Temple of Zeus, taking several fragments of the pediments to the Musée du Louvre . Systematic excavation began in 1875, under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute, and has continued, with some interruptions, to the present time . </P> <P> The 1997 Walt Disney animated film Hercules depicts the Temple of Zeus as the only communication Hercules has with his father while he is a mortal . Zeus communicates by possessing the statue within the temple . In an episode of the animated series, Zeus further uses this ability to address an issue on Earth by using the statue to visit other cities near Athens . </P>

The first great monument of classical architecture is the temple of zeus at olympia