Statue of Zeus at Olympia (c. 435 BC): Phidias' Lost Wonder

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a colossal seated figure of the king of the gods, made of gold and ivory by the Athenian sculptor Phidias around 435 BC for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. About 12 metres tall, it was counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and was admired for some eight centuries before being destroyed in the fifth century AD.

Background: Olympia and its temple

Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, was the great sanctuary of Zeus and the site of the ancient Olympic Games, held every four years. In the early fifth century BC the people of Elis, who controlled the sanctuary, built a large new Doric temple to Zeus, designed by the local architect Libon. It was completed by about 457 BC, when the Spartans placed a golden shield on its roof to celebrate a victory.

The temple was richly decorated with sculpture, but at first it lacked a cult statue worthy of its size. The Eleans turned to Phidias, the most famous sculptor in Greece, who had made the huge gold and ivory Athena for the Parthenon in Athens.

Making the statue

Most scholars date the statue to the 430s BC, after Phidias finished the Athena Parthenos in 438 BC. Pottery found in his workshop supports this date, though some historians argue for an earlier one, and ancient accounts of his last years conflict.

The Eleans built Phidias a workshop just west of the temple, with an inner space roughly the size of the temple’s cella, so that the statue could be assembled and tested before being moved. The figure was chryselephantine: thin plates of ivory formed the flesh, and sheets of gold formed the robe, all attached to a wooden framework.

The geographer Pausanias, who saw it in the second century AD, gives the fullest description. Zeus sat on a throne holding a figure of Nike, goddess of victory, in his right hand and a sceptre topped by an eagle in his left. His robe was decorated with animals and lilies, and his sandals were gold. The throne was adorned with gold, precious stones, ebony and ivory, and carved and painted with mythological scenes.

The statue was so large that it nearly reached the roof. Strabo commented that if Zeus rose from his throne he would unroof the temple. A shallow pool of olive oil in front of the statue is said to have helped keep the ivory from cracking in the damp climate, and descendants of Phidias held the hereditary duty of cleaning it.

The workshop of Phidias

German archaeologists excavated the workshop between 1954 and 1958. They found tools, scraps of ivory and bone, glass inlays, and clay moulds used to shape the gold drapery. Most striking was a small black-glazed jug inscribed on its base “I belong to Phidias”.

These finds confirmed the identity of the building and the ancient accounts of the statue’s technique. In the fifth century AD the workshop was converted into a Christian church, and its walls still stand at Olympia.

Fame and legends

The statue became the image of Zeus for the Greek and Roman world. Ancient writers said that seeing it could ease the sorrows of the troubled. Pausanias records a legend that when Phidias asked for a sign of approval, a thunderbolt struck the floor of the temple.

The Roman historian Suetonius reports that the emperor Caligula planned to bring the statue to Rome and replace its head with his own, but the work was abandoned. Coins issued by Elis in the reign of Hadrian show the seated Zeus and are among the best evidence for its appearance.

Among the Seven Wonders

The idea of a list of “sights” (theamata) worth seeing developed in the Hellenistic world after the conquests of Alexander the Great. The best-known version, in a poem by Antipater of Sidon in the second century BC, names the walls of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus, the Hanging Gardens, the Colossus of Rhodes, the pyramids, the Mausoleum and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Later lists replaced the walls of Babylon with the Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria.

The Zeus was the only wonder that was primarily a work of sculpture inside a building rather than a building or monument in its own right. Visitors came to Olympia not only for the Games but to see it, and Roman writers such as Quintilian claimed that its beauty had even added something to traditional religion.

Myths and facts

A popular story says that Phidias made the statue after fleeing Athens, where he had been accused of stealing gold or ivory meant for the Athena Parthenos. The ancient sources disagree: Plutarch says he died in prison in Athens, while other traditions place his final years at Olympia. Because of this conflict, the exact sequence of his last works remains uncertain.

Modern images of the statue, including the seventeenth-century drawing by the Dutch artist Jacob van der Ulft, are reconstructions or imaginative works. The most influential scholarly reconstruction was published in 1815 by the French archaeologist Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy, who also studied the technique of gold and ivory sculpture. Later versions have been revised as excavations at Olympia added new evidence. No accurate copy survives, and details such as the face and the precise proportions are guesses based on coins, Pausanias’ description and comparison with other statues.

Destruction

The Olympic Games ended in the late fourth or early fifth century AD, traditionally after a ban on pagan festivals by the emperor Theodosius I around 393. The fate of the statue is uncertain. According to the Byzantine historian Cedrenus, it had been moved to Constantinople and stood in the palace of the courtier Lausus, where it was destroyed by fire around AD 475.

Others believe it perished at Olympia when the temple was damaged by fire, perhaps in the 420s AD. The temple itself was later toppled by earthquakes in the sixth century, and its fallen column drums still lie where they collapsed.

Key people

• Phidias: Athenian sculptor, creator of the Athena Parthenos and the Zeus at Olympia.
• Libon of Elis: Architect of the Temple of Zeus.
• Pausanias: Greek traveller and geographer of the second century AD, whose description is the main source.

Timeline

• c. 470–457 BC: The Temple of Zeus is built at Olympia.
• 438 BC: Phidias completes the Athena Parthenos in Athens.
• c. 435 BC: Phidias makes the statue of Zeus at Olympia.
• 2nd century BC: Antipater of Sidon includes the statue among the Seven Wonders.
• 2nd century AD: Pausanias describes the statue; Hadrianic coins depict it.
• c. AD 393: Traditional date for the end of the ancient Olympic Games.
• c. AD 475: Possible destruction of the statue by fire in Constantinople.
• 1954–1958: Excavation of Phidias’ workshop.

Why it matters

The Statue of Zeus represented the summit of classical Greek religious art, combining enormous scale and costly materials with a calm, human-like majesty. Though nothing of it survives, it shaped the image of the supreme god for centuries, and the excavation of Phidias’ workshop offers a rare look at how one of the greatest artists of antiquity actually worked. Like the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, it is a wonder known only from ruins, coins and words.