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The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Temple of Zeus was located in  the ancient town of Olympia, about 150 km west of the modern city of Athens. The temple was designed by the architect Libon and built around 450 BC to honor the king of the gods, Zeus. The statue itself was created by the Athenian sculptor Pheidias. The Roman Emperor Caligula tried to move the statue to Rome in the first century AD, but the scaffolding collasped and the effort was abandonded. The temple was closed after the Emperor Theodosius I banned the Olympic games in AD 391

Wealthy Greeks moved the statue to a palace in Constantinople where it was destroyed by a severe fire in AD 462. Only rocks, debris, fallen columns, and foundations remain at the temple site now.

Work on the statue began around 440 BC. Pheidias erected a wooden frame on which sheets of metal and ivory were placed to provide the outer covering. Pheidias' workshop in Olympia still stands. It is the same size and orientation as the temple. The finished statue barely fit in the temple.The base was about 6.5 m (20 ft) wide and 1.0 meter (3 ft) high. It was about 13 m (40 ft) tall, the equivalent to a modern 4-story building.

The legs of the throne were decorated with winged figures of Victory and sphinxes. Greek gods and mythical figures were also included. The Greek Pausanias wrote: On his head is a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold... In his left hand, he holds a sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched on the sceptre. His sandals are made of gold, as is his robe. His garments are carved with animals and with lilies. The throne is decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory.

Although copies of the statue were made, none of them have survived to the present. Early reconstructions are now considered rather innacurate.

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