Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant seated figure, about 13 m (42 ft) tall,  made by the Greek sculptor Phidias in circa 430-422 BC at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece and erected in the Temple of Zeus there. A chryselephantine sculpture of plated ivory and gold panels over a wooden framework, it represented the god Zeus sitting on an elaborate cedar wood throne ornamented with ebony, ivory, gold, and precious stones, and was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World until its eventual loss and destruction during the fifth century AD. No copy of the statue has ever been found, and details of its form are known only from ancient Greek descriptions and representations on coins.

Statue of Zeus at Olympia Loss and destruction:

According to Suetonius, the Roman Emperor Caligula "gave orders that such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or for their artistic merit, including that of Zeus at Olympia, should be brought from Greece, in order to remove their heads and put his own in their place."Caligula was assassinated in AD 41. In Rome other interpretations were placed on the phenomenon: according to Suetonius, Caligula's "approaching murder was foretold by many prodigies. The statue of Jupiter at Olympia, which he had ordered to be taken to pieces and moved to Rome, suddenly uttered such a peal of laughter that the scaffolding collapsed and the workmen took to their heels.”
The circumstances of its eventual destruction are a source of debate: the 11th-century Byzantine historian Georgios Kedrenos recorded the tradition that it was carried off to Constantinople, where it was destroyed in the great fire of the Lauseion, in AD 475.

Others argue that it perished with the temple when it burned in 425. According to Lucian of Samosata in the later 2nd century, "they have laid hands on your person at Olympia, my lord High-Thunderer, and you had not the energy to wake the dogs or call in the neighbors; surely they might have come to the rescue and caught the fellows before they had finished packing up the statue."

Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias’ workshop rediscovered:

In 1954–1958, during the excavation of the workshop at Olympia where Phidias created the statue, tools, terracotta moulds and a cup inscribed "I belong to Phidias" were found, just where the traveler Pausanias said the statue of Zeus was constructed. This has enabled archaeologists to re-create the techniques used to make the great work and confirm its date.