THE PANATHENAIC STADIUM A short distance from the olympieion, on the left bank of the River uissos, is the it is Panathenaic Stadium also known as the Kallimarmaro (because revetted marble). One of the most impressive monuments in Athens, it was constructed initially in the fourth century BC, under the supervision of the orator Lykourgos The athletics contests associated with the Panathenaia festival were held bere That stadium had wooden seats the while the spectators sat on the sloping ground. The stadium was rebuilt by Herodes Atticus in the second century AD. Much larger and with marble seats, it could accommodate 50.000 people. fell into ruins during the dark years of the Ottoman period. In the nineteenth century. the benefactor of the Nation, Georgios Averoff, revetted the stadium once again in in it to host the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896.