The Arena

The Arena, also called the Forum, was a battlefield at the edge of Mount Olympus, near the Chamber of the Flame, shaped like a small coliseum where the gods watched and joined in combat. Hercules commanded it more than any other Olympian, and within it Kratos brought down his half-brother.

The Forum on Olympus#

The Arena stood at one of the edges of Mount Olympus, close to the Chamber of the Flame, and took the form of a small coliseum. It was likely the gods' favored place to watch and even take part in battle. Two thrones rose at the middle of its bleachers, thought to belong to Zeus and Hera, though it was Hercules who used and commanded the Arena more than any other Olympian, for his own amusement. An iron gate set beneath the thrones allowed warriors and enemies to march in, great statues of goddesses lined the walls, and some of those walls were overgrown with spiked vines.

The fall of Hercules#

It was in the Forum that the Spartan Kratos found the goddess Hera and was confronted by his half-brother Hercules. The two fought, and Kratos turned the Arena itself against his foe, using the spiked vines that wrapped the walls to wound him and at last wrest the Nemean Cestus from his hands. Stripped of his weapon, Hercules fought on with his bare fists, grabbing and striking the Spartan and hurling the statues of the Arena at him.

The shattered floor#

Near the end of the struggle, Hercules threw Kratos to the edge of the Arena, stunning him, then lifted the whole ground in an effort to make the Spartan slip and fall from the mountain. Kratos pulled himself back, leapt, and pounded the floor down again before smashing Hercules' face into the ground with the Cestus, the final blow breaking the Arena's floor to pieces. Both Kratos and the dead, ruined Hercules tumbled into the sewers below, where the Spartan left his half-brother's body to rot.