Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a large chrysoelephantine sculpture created by the sculptor Phidias. Located in Olympia, (Greece), it is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. While the remains of the foundations of the statue's base at Olympia have been preserved, the statue itself has been lost and can only be reconstructed from depictions on ancient coins and descriptions.

The statue filled the entire width of the temple room built to house it. According to a contemporary source it was approximately forty feet tall. Zeus was carved in ivory on a wooden frame, and the gilt details were solid gold.

According to Pausanias, Zeus appeared seated on a throne with a bare torso and a cloak around his legs, his head was crowned with an olive tree and his gaze, directed downwards, gave him a paternal appearance. In his right hand he held a small Nike, also in gold and ivory, and in his left the gold scepter topped by an eagle; the cloak was adorned with lilies and the sandals were gold, resting the feet on a footstool decorated with an amazonomachy in relief. The throne itself was a work of art, made of ivory, ebony, gold, and precious stones; the back, arms, feet and crossbars between them were carved and decorated with reliefs. The floor in front of the throne was black marble tile surrounded by a white marble skirting.

The idea of creating this set was my passion for art and the ancient world. It was a challenge to recreate the statue as there is no true graphic record.

I have added some transparent human figures to represent the proportion of the statue with respect to the size of a person.

The model consists of 610 pieces and dimensions of 14.4x14.4x24.5 cm.