To the north of this plain was a range of rocky hills, the nearest of which was the famous Kronion, conical in shape and about 400 feet in height. As its name signifies, this hill was sacred to Kronos, the father of Zeus. Another low range bounded the valley on the south. The western boundary was the Kladeos. Eastward was the hill of Pisa, and further in the distance were visible the snow-crowned summits of Erymanthos and Kyllene. During the long centuries that succeeded the extinction of Greek civilization, the precinct of the games, and the equipments, buildings and statues that remained, were gradually covered by a stratum of alluvium from the Alpheios, mixed with a deposit of clay from Kronion. The rest of the world was not interested enough to record the process, and when in modern times scholars saw no trace of the original scene, it was supposed that the Alpheios by its overflowings had destroyed all monuments. Recent excavations, however, have revealed a very precious remnant at the bottom of the alluvium. It was indeed not really a misfortune that during periods when the products of old civilizations were treated with fanaticism on the one hand, and rapacity on the other, the Olympian scene was covered with earth rather than left exposed to the hand of Middle Age barbarians. The systematic excavation of Olympia was undertaken in 1875 by the German government. The work involved great expense, and the willingness of the Germans to undertake and execute the task has brought them much praise from the scholars of other countries. The excavations were completed on the 20th of March, 1881. During these six years a space in the form of a square, measuring 1,000 feet on each side, was stripped of the accumulated deposit of twelve centuries; the average depth of this covering was estimated to be over sixteen feet. Archæologically, this excavation involved expert care and much labor. Neither the care nor the labor was withheld. The result may best be described in the language of an eminent professor of classical archæology:--