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The drawings below show the series of metopes which
once adorned the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, built around 470-456 B.C.
Pausanias (5.10.9) describes these metopes, six of which were placed over
the east porch and six over the west porch, wrapped around the inside of
the building.
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The drawing above shows the six metopes at the
east end
of the building (in order from left to right): the Erymanthian
Boar, the Mares of Diomedes, Geryon, Atlas
with the Apples of the Hesperides, Cerberus (omitted, for some reason,
in Pausanias' account), and the Augean
Stables. It has been suggested that the placement of the
Augean Stables at the end of the normal order of labors may have been due
to its local importance, since the stables were in Elis, where Olympia is
also located.
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