A Brief History Of The Panathenaic Stadium, Athens

Later during the Roman times, Herodes Atticus made a contribution to renovate the stadium with some restructuring works carried out, such as the shifting of the shape into a horseshoe and the addition of a propylon at the entrance. After the prevailing of Christianity, the stadium was largely abandoned. It was later excavated in the 19th century with the push of the revival of the tradition of the Olympic Games by Evangelis Zappas, Greece’s most notorious benefactor and whose name was given to the Zappeion. At that time, he had already petitioned to revive the century-old tradition, and in 1870 and 1875, the Zappeion Olympiads were held.

After its renovation, mainly sponsored by Greek businessman George Averoff, it was there that the first modern Olympic Games were held, with resounding success.

Today, the stadium is used for many purposes and even holds a record. As the home for the AEK Basketball Club during the 1960s, the team defeated Slavia Prague at the 1967–68 FIBA European Cup Winner’s Cup final in front of around 80,000 seated spectators inside the arena, apparently the largest crowd to ever attend a basketball game.

The stadium was also used during the 2004 Olympics and hosts athletic events. National and international stars also perform at the stadium, such as Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, REM, Depeche Mode, and Greek mega star Sakis Rouvas.