Purpose The purpose of the Statue of Zeus was to create a place where the Greeks could worship their god, Zeus.

Location The Statue of Zeus is in the Temple of Zeus, located in Olympia, Greece.

Sculptor The sculptor of the Statue of Zeus was a Greek man named Phidias (also the sculptor for the Temple of Artemis). It took Phidias about 12 years to complete. Phidias was criticized by many people, because when the statue was completed, it barely fit in the temple. Zeus’s head was almost touching the ceiling. Other people believed that Phidias was very amazing. They thought the height showed the power that Zeus had. Phidias

Architecture In the beginning, there was only the temple that was built. The Greeks did not think that the temple was worthy for their King of Gods so they had Phidias’s create the statue of Zeus to place inside the temple. The statue was a Chryselephantine statue. Chryselephantine means that the statue was made of ivory and gold. It also had a wooden frame. The statue was about 40 feet tall and 22 feet wide. It was built on a rectangular platform. It had about 78 (13 by 6) support beams. It was similar to other temples, but it was done with excellent craftsmanship. In Zeus’s throne, their were little carvings of Greek gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures.

Destruction Other historians believe that the statue remained in the temple the whole time and was burned down in a fire of 425 AD. The Statue of Zeus was hit by an earthquake 107 BC that did a lot of damage, but it was restored. Emperor Constantine had all of the gold taken out of pagan temples when he converted to Christianity in the fourth century. A Byzantine historian, Georgios Kedrenos, believes that that statue was moved to a wealthy Greek to be apart of his own collection of art. Then, the remains later then were burned by a fire in 475 AD.

Timeline  432 BC – The Statue of Zeus was started  420 BC – The Statue of Zeus was completed  107 BC – An Earthquake hit and damaged the statue and it was repaired  425 or 475 – The temple was burned down  1950s – Phidias’s workshop was discovered

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