In antiquity, Olympia was not a city, but an area located on the right bank of the Alpheus River, at the point where it joined with the tributary Cladeus. There, in the triangle formed between the two rivers and the Kronios hill, there was a grove, the sacred Altis, as it was called. A grove with large shady plane trees, with tall poplars that had been brought from Thesprotia, and with ash-green wild olive trees. The great Athenian orator, Lysias, had said about Olympia that it is "the most beautiful place in Greece." And he was not wrong. Even today, the beauty of Olympia is unique.