Art and Culture in Athens

"The Panathenaic Stadium or Kallimarmaro was inaugurated in 329 BC for the Panathenaea, an Athenian festival dedicated to the goddess of Athena (the goddess of wisdom and the patron of the city of Athens) with music and poetry contests. Between 140 and 144 AD, the stadium was renovated by Herodes Atticus, a Greek aristocrat and Roman senator. In 1870, an excavation revealed the horseshoe-shaped, 50,000-seat stadium. The stadium was used again in 1896 for the first modern Olympics, and it is the finishing line for the annual autumn Athens Marathon race." - MATADOR_NETWORK