Zeus

Colossal gold and ivory cult statue in temple of Zeus, Olympia, 438-432 B.C. Stewart, T50: Pausanias 5.10.2 ff. (10) The image was made by Pheidias, as is witnessed by an inscription written under the feet of Zeus: "Pheidias son of Charmides, an Athenian, made me" Within the temple stand pillars, and inside also are porticoes above, with an approach through them to the image. (11) The god sits on a throne made of gold and ivory. On his head lies a garland in the form of olive shoots. In his right hand he holds a Nike of ivory and gold as well, which carries a fillet and wears a garland on her head. In the god's left hand is a scepter made of all kinds of metal, and an eagle perches on top of it. The god's shoes and cloak are of gold. On the cloak are inlaid figures and lily-flowers. The throne is rich with gold and jewels, and ebony and ivory too; and upon it there are painted figures and sculptured images. Between the feet of the throne are four bars, each stretching from foot to foot. The bar right opposite the entrance has seven sculptured images: the eighth has disappeared, but they know not how... They say that the youth binding a fillet on his head resembles Pantarkes, an Elean boy who[m] Pheidias loved. Pantarkes won a victory in the boys' wrestling contest during the 86th Olympiad [436]. All the floor in front of the image has been paved not with white but with black tiles. A raised rim of Parian marble runs around the border of the black stone, to keep in the olive oil that is poured out. For olive oil is beneficial to the image at Olympia, and it is olive oil which keeps the ivory from being harmed by the marshiness of the Altis. On the Athenian Akropolis it is water, not olive oil, which benefits the so-called Parthenos. For the Akropolis is extremely dry owing to its excessive height, so that the image, being made of ivory, yearns for the dampness it brings. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria (Training of an Orator) 12.7-9 Pheidias is held to be a greater artist in the fashioning of gods than of men, and his Zeus [like his Athena] even added to the existing religion a new element, so closely does the majesty of the work approach the god himself. Stewart, T49: Strabo, Geography 8.3.30 (Strabo born 64/63 B.C., and lived until 21 A.D. or later) But the greatest of these [offerings] was the image of Zeus made by Pheidias of Athens, son of Charmides; it was made of ivory, and it was so large that, although the temple was very large, the artist is thought to have missed the proper symmetry, for he showed Zeus seated but almost touching the roof with his head, thus making the impression that if Zeus arose and stood erect he would unroof the temple. It is said that when Panainos asked Pheidias what model he was going to use for the image of Zeus, he replied that it was the model Homer provided in the following lines:    He spoke, the son of Kronos, and nodded his dark brow,    And the ambrosial locks of the great god swept down    From his immortal head, and all Olympos quaked. (Iliad, 1.528-530)