Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is one of the classical Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was carved by the famed sculptor Phidias circa 435 B.C.E. in Olympia, Greece.
The seated statue occupied the whole width of the aisle of the temple that was built to house it, and was 40 feet high. "It seems that if Zeus were to stand up," the geographer Strabo noted early in the 1st century B.C.E., "he would unroof the temple."[1] The statue was made of ivory and accented with gold plating. In the sculpture, Zeus was seated on a magnificent throne of cedarwood, inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony, and precious stones. In Zeus's right hand was a small statue of Nike, the goddess of victory, and in his left hand, a shining sceptre on which an eagle perched.
Plutarch, in his Life of the Roman general Aemilius Paulus, records that the victorious general, upon seeing the statue, “was moved to his soul, as if he had beheld the god in person,” while the Greek rhetorician and philosopher Dio Chrysostom wrote that a single glimpse of the statue would make a man forget his earthly troubles.
Although the statue itself is lost, in 1958 an excavation discovered of the workshop used to create the statue. This has led archaeologists to attempt to re-create the technique used to make the great work.
Temple of Zeus
The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece was built between 470 B.C.E. and completed by 456 B.C.E. to commemorate the Elean defeat of the Pisatans in 470 B.C.E. It was designed by Lisbon of Elis at Archaeopaedia. Later, it housed the monumental Statue of Zeus at Olympia, which was added to the temple around 435 B.C.E. The temple was destroyed by earthquake in the 5th century B.C.E.
The temple was built from limestone and covered with stucco built on a raised rectangular platform of approximately 210 feet by 92 feet, with thirteen, 33-foot columns on each side and six at either end. The temple was divided into three sections: the pronaos, naos, and [[opisthodomos]. It was constructed in the doric order, with carved metopes and triglyph frieze, topped by pediments filled with sculptures in the Severe Style, which was characterized by a more sober and realistic depiction of the human form than the early classical period.
The east pediment, attributed to Paeonius, depicted the myth of the chariot race between Pelops and Oenomaus, with Zeus standing in the center. The west pediment depicted a fight between the Centaurs and the Lapiths. Apollo stands in the center, flanked by Peirithoos and Theseus. A sequence of twelve metopes - six over the pronaos and six over the opithodomos - showed the 12 labors of Hericles. Like the pediments, they were carved from Parian marble.
King of the gods
Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Ζεύς Zeús; genitive: Διός Diós), is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus. In Greek mythology he was the bringer of thunder and lightning, rain, and winds. Zeus's symbols were the thunderbolt (his weapon), eagle, bull, and the oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical Zeus also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the ancient Near East, such as the scepter.
Frequently envisaged by Greek artists in one of two poses, Zeus is most often seen standing, striding forward, a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty, as in the case of the statue of Zeus at Olympia.
Zeus was also protector of cities, the home, stranger, and supplicants. Statues of Zeus appeared in forecourts of houses all over Greece, while mountaintop shrines attracted scores of pilgrims. But the most revered object of worship was the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, located in a sacred grove between two rivers.
Olympia
Olympia not only housed the Temple of Zeus, but also hosted Olympic Games. Held every four years, the Olympic Games dated back possibly further than 776 B.C.E. In 394, emperor Theodosius I abolished them because they were reminiscent of paganism.
The sanctuary, known as the Altis, consists of an unordered arrangement of various buildings. Enclosed within the temenos are the Temple of Hera (or Heraion/Heraeum) and Temple of Zeus, the Pelopion and the area of the altar, where the sacrifices were made. The hippodrome and later stadium were also to the east.
To the north of the sanctuary can be found the Prytaneion and the Philippeion, as well as the array of treasuries representing the various city states. The Metroon lies to the south of these treasuries, with the Echo Stoa to the East. To the south of the sanctuary is the South Stoa and the Bouleuterion, whereas the West side houses the Palaestra, the workshop of Pheidias, the Gymnasion and the Leonidaion.
Near the Temple of Zeus which housed this statue, the studio of Pheidias was excavated in the 1950s. Evidence found there, such as sculptor's tools, corroborates this opinion. The ancient ruins sit north of the Alfeios River and Mount Kronos (named after the Greek deity Kronos). The Kladeos, a tributary of the Alfeios, flows around the area.
Presiding Over the Games
There are many myths and legends surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. The most popular legend describes that Heracles was the creator of the Olympic Games, and built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an honor to his father Zeus, after completing his 12 labors. The date of the Games'inception based on the count of years in Olympiads is reconstructed as 776 B.C.E., although scholars' opinions diverge between dates as early as 884 B.C.E. and as late as 704 B.C.E.
From then on, the Games quickly became much more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honoring both Zeus, who was said to be presiding over the games, and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race, in whose honor the games were held. The number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an 'Olympiad.' The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count years.
Destruction
The circumstances of its eventual destruction are a source of debate: some scholars argue that it perished with the temple in the fifth century B.C.E., others argue that it was carried off to Constantinople, where it was destroyed in the great fire of the Lauseion (Schobel 1965). According to Lucian of Samosata in the later second century, "they have laid hands on your person at Olympia, my lord High-Thunderer, and you had not the energy to wake the dogs or call in the neighbors; surely they might have come to the rescue and caught the fellows before they had finished packing up the swag."[2] A common line of thought suggests it was destroyed by a meteor.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Bernard and Yalouris. Olympia: The Sculptures of the Temples of Zeus, Phaidon, 1967. ASIN B000NKQ3NU
- Dillon, Matthew, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece, Routledge, 1997. ISBN 978-0415127752
- Nardo, Don. Greek Temples, Franklin Watts, 2002. ISBN 978-0531162255
- Pedley, John. Sanctuaries and the Sacred in the Ancient World, Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-6521809351
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- ↑ Ashmawy, Alaa K. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia ce.eng.usf.edu. Retrieved on May 9, 2007.
- ↑ Lucian's dialogue (Timon the Misanthrope) On-line.
