Statue of Zeus?

Hello my readers :3 Thx for visiting my blog again. Now I’ll describe you about.. yes I know you read the title :v this is a bit explanation about “TEMPLE OF ZEUS” gotta jump :3

Ilustration of Statue of Zeus

Well.. do you know about Temple Of Zeus? I think you already know who was Zeus is right? The Greece people think that Zeus is The KING Of The Gods.. and to worship Zeus.. the Greece people built a temple that called Temple Of Zeus.

Temple of Zeus built around 432 BC at Peloponnesus (Modern Greece) and the function is to worship the God King, the size of its building is around 40 ft or 12 m in tall and it was made of Ivory and gold-plated plates on its wooden frame. The temple design is similar to other Grecian temple, such as Parthenon in Athens and Temple of Artemis is Ephesus. It was built on a raised, rectangular platform. With Thirteen large columns supported the roof along the sides and six supported it on each end. The pediments or A gently-peaked roof topped in the building created by the sloped roof at the ends of the building were filled with sculpture. Under the pediments, just above the columns, was more sculpture depicting the twelve labors of Heracles, six on each temple. Though the temple was considered one of the best examples of the Doric design because of its style and the quality of the workmanship, it was decided the temple alone was too simple to be worthy of the King of the gods. To remedy this, a statue was commissioned for the interior. It would be a magnificent statue of Zeus that would become one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

And the name for creating the Zeus temple was a man named Phidias. He had already rendered a forty-foot high statue of the Goddess Athena for the Parthenon and had also done much of the sculpture on the exterior of that temple. And after the work in Athens was done, He traveled to Olympia around 432 BC and start to construct the Statue of Zeus. And the time to complete the Statue takes 12 years. The statue is located in the western end of the temple. The temple is about 22 ft wide and more than 40 ft tall. And the figure of Zeus was seated on an elaborate throne with the had nearly grazed the roof.

About the construction of the statue.. The figure's skin was composed of ivory and the beard, hair and robe of gold. Construction was by a technique known as chryselephantine where gold-plated bronze and ivory sections were attached to a wooden frame. Because the weather in Olympia was so damp, the statue required care so that the humidity would not crack the ivory. It is said that for centuries the decedents of Phidias held the responsibility for this maintenance. To keep it in good shape the statue was constantly treated with olive oil kept in a special reservoir in the floor of the temple that also served as a reflecting pool. Light reflected off the pool from the doorway may also have had the effect of illuminating the statue. The Greek traveler Pausanias recorded that when the statue was finally completed, Pheidias asked Zeus for a sign that the work was to his liking. The god replied by touching the temple with a thunderbolt that did no damage. According to the account a bronze hydria (water vessel) was placed at the spot where the thunderbolt hit the structure. Besides the statue, there was little inside the temple. The Greeks preferred the interior of their shrines to be simple. The feeling it gave was probably very much like the Lincoln Memorial or Jefferson Memorial with their lofty marble columns and single, large statues. However with a height greater than 40 feet, the statue of Zesus was more than twice as tall as Lincoln's likeness at his memorial on the mall in Washington D.C.. Copies of the statue were made, but none survive, though pictures found on coins give researchers clues about its appearance. Despite his magnificent work at Olympia, Phidias ran into trouble when he returned home. He was a close friend with Pericles, who ruled the Athens. Enemies of Pericles, unable to strike at the ruler directly, attacked his friends instead. Phidias was accused of stealing gold meant for the statue of Athena. When that charge failed to stick, they claimed he had carved his image, and that of Pericles into the sculpture found on the Parthenon. This would have been improper in the Greeks' eyes and Phidias was thrown into jail where he died awaiting trial. His masterpiece lived on, however. It was damaged in an earthquake in 170 B.C. and repaired. However, much of its grandeur was probably lost after Emperor Constantine decreed that gold be stripped from all pagan shrines after he converted to Christianity in the early fourth century A.D.. Then in 392 A.D. the Olympics were abolished by Emperor Theodosius I of Rome, a Christian who saw the games as a pagan rite. After that according to the Byzantine historian Georgios Kedrenos, the statue was moved by a wealthy Greek named Lausus to the city of Constantinople where it became part of his private collection of classical art. It is believed that the remains of the statue were destroyed by a fire that swept the city in 475 A.D.. However, other sources say the statue was still at the Olympic Temple when it burned down in 425 A.D..

Well.. I think it is enough.. I’m sorry if I do mistakes.. and about the source.. it is on www.unmuseum.org hehehe and yes.. I do a bit copying xD byebye..