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| Statue
of Zeus |
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Statue
of Zeus: The ancient Greek calendar
starts in 776 BC, for the Olympic
games are believed to have started
that year. The magnificent temple
of Zeus was designed by the architect
Libon and was built around 450 BC.
Under the growing power of ancient
Greece, the simple Doric-style temple
seemed too mundane, and modifications
were needed. The solution: A majestic
statue. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias
was assigned for the "sacred"
task, reminiscent of Michelangelo's
paintings at the Sistine Chapel.
For
the years that followed, the temple
attracted visitors and worshippers
from all over the world. In the
second century BC repairs were skillfully
made to the aging statue. In the
first century AD, the Roman emperor
Caligula attempted to transport
the statue to Rome. However,
his attempt failed when the scaffolding
built by Caligula's workmen collapsed.
After
the Olympic games were banned in
AD 391 by the emperor Theodosius
I as Pagan practices, the temple
of Zeus was ordered closed.
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Olympia
was further struck by earthquakes, landslides
and floods, and the temple was damaged
by fire in the fifth century AD. Earlier,
the statue had been transported by wealthy
Greeks to a palace in Constantinople.
There, it survived until it was destroyed
by a severe fire in AD 462. Today nothing
remains at the site of the old temple
except rocks and debris, the foundation
of the buildings, and fallen columns.
Pheidias
began working on the statue around 440
BC. Years earlier, he had developed
a technique to build enormous gold and
ivory statues. This was done by erecting
a wooden frame on which sheets of metal
and ivory were placed to provide the
outer covering. Pheidias' workshop in
Olympia still exists, and is coincidentally
-- or may be not -- identical in size
and orientation to the temple of Zeus.
There, he sculpted and carved the different
pieces of the statue before they were
assembled in the temple.
When
the statue was completed, it barely
fitted in the temple. Strabo wrote:
"..
although the temple itself is very large,
the sculptor is criticized for not having
appreciated the correct proportions.
He has shown Zeus seated, but with the
head almost touching the ceiling, so
that we have the impression that if
Zeus moved to stand up he would unroof
the temple."
Strabo
was right, except that the sculptor
is to be commended, not criticized.
It is this size impression that made
the statue so wonderful. It is the idea
that the king of gods is capable of
unroofing the temple if he stood up
that fascinated poets and historians
alike. The base of the statue was about
6.5 m (20 ft) wide and 1.0 meter (3
ft) high. The height of the statue itself
was 13 m (40 ft), equivalent to a modern
4-story building.
The
statue was so high that visitors described
the throne more than Zeus body and features.
The legs of the throne were decorated
with sphinxes and winged figures of
Victory. Greek gods and mythical figures
also adorned the scene: Apollo, Artemis,
and Niobe's children. 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.
The
statue was occasionally decorated with
gifts from kings and rulers. the most
notable of these gifts was a woollen
curtain "adorned with Assyrian
woven patterns and Pheonician dye"
which was dedicated by the Syrian king
Antiochus IV.
Copies
of the statue were made, including a
large prototype at Cyrene (Libya). None
of them, however, survived to the present
day. Early reconstructions such as the
one by von Erlach are now believed to
be rather inaccurate. For us, we can
only wonder about the true appearance
of the statue -- the greatest work in
Greek sculpture.
Location:
At the ancient town of Olympia, on the
west coast of modern Greece, about 150
km west of Athens.
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