The statue of Zeus at Olympia stood in the part of western Greece that gave its name to the Olympic Games and was to build to honour the greatest of the Greek gods.
The
magnificent temple of Zeus was built around 450 BC and built in the simple
Doric style
It
was decided a majestic statue should be created and so The Athenian sculptor
Pheidias was assigned the "sacred" task which he began in 440 BC.
The
statue was created from metal, ivory and sculpted marble his head was wreathed
with olive sprays in his right hand he held a gold and ivory victory figure and
in his left an inlaid golden sceptre.
He
wore golden sandals, and his throne was decorated with ebony and ivory gold and
other precious metals and every kind of gemstone and when the throne figure was
completed it was almost too big to fit in the temple.
Many
worshippers visited the temple over the following 450 years and some work was
needed to restore the ageing masterpiece and a hundred years earlier the roman
emperor Caligula tried to have the statue transported to his palace in Rome,
but he failed.
After
the temple of Zeus was ordered closed and the Olympic Games banned in 391 AD by
emperor Theodosius I, Olympia was struck repeatedly by earthquakes, landslides
and floods.
By
the time the temple was badly damaged by fire in the fifth century AD the
statue had been transported to the city of Constantinople to the palace owned
by a wealthy Greek.
Where
it survived until 462 AD when a severe fire destroyed it.
Today
nothing remains at the site of the old temple except fallen columns and debris
and nothing remains at all of the greatest work of art in Greek sculpture.
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