Statue of Zeus - the third wonder of the world

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The statue of Zeus is the third wonder of the world, which, unfortunately, has not survived to this day. It was located in Olympia, an ancient Greek city, 150 km west of Athens. The city was famous for hosting the Olympic Games. Competitions began to be held in the 7th century BC, but then they were not large-scale. Over time, the news of competitions between men for strength and dexterity spread to many countries, and representatives from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and Sicily began to gather in Olympia. The games have become political in nature, and in order to emphasize their importance, it was decided to build a temple to the main god Zeus and create his statue.

At first, the temple was built; the talented Greek architect Lebon worked on its construction for more than 15 years. The structure resembled the Greek sanctuaries of that time, only it was much larger and more luxurious. The length of the temple of Zeus was 64 m, width - 28 m, and height - 20 m. Its roof was supported by 13 huge 10-meter columns. But still, the Greeks were not enough with one sanctuary, they wanted Zeus himself to be present at their Olympic Games, so it was decided to create his statue.

The statue of Olympian Zeus is the creation of an Atheniansculptor Phidias. According to the surviving records of eyewitnesses, its height was about 15 m, which is why it barely fit in the temple. It seemed that if Zeus rises from the throne, then his head will rest directly on the ceiling. The figure of the Thunderer was carved from wood. Then Phidias attached plates of pink ivory to the wooden frame, so the body of the god seemed to be alive. The beard, the cloak, the scepter with the eagle, and the figurine of Nike were cast in solid gold. The wreath of olive branches that adorns the head of Zeus was also created from this precious metal. It took more than 200 kg of gold to create the sculpture, which is almost $ 9 million.

The statue of Zeus at Olympia was such a unique masterpiece at that time that the news of it spread throughout many countries, people from nearby states came together to look at this splendor. God looked so natural that it seemed that he was about to get up. According to legend, after Phidias finished work on the statue, he asked: “Zeus, are you satisfied?”. At the same time, thunder struck, and the Greeks took this sign as a satisfactory answer.

For seven centuries, the statue of Zeus smiled favorably on all participants in the Olympic Games. In 391 AD the temple was closed by the Romans, who adopted Christianity at that time. The Roman emperor Theodosius I, who was a Christian, had a negative attitude towards everything related to paganism, he banned competitions and the worship of Zeus.

The statue of Zeus at that time was subjected toplundered, and what was left of it was sent to Constantinople. But the sculpture was not destined to survive; there it completely burned down during a fire. The remains of the temple were discovered in 1875, and in 1950 archaeologists were lucky enough to find the workshop of the brilliant sculptor Phidias. These places were carefully studied, as a result of which scientists managed to find out what the statue of Zeus looked like, and also to revive the Temple of the Thunderer itself.