Phidias
Phidias
499 av. J.-C. — 429 av. J.-C.
Athènes
Phidias is considered the greatest sculptor of ancient Greece in the 5th century BC. He created the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos and the statue of Zeus at Olympia, counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Key Facts
- Around 490 BC: presumed birth in Athens
- Around 447–432 BC: supervision of the artistic works on the Parthenon under Pericles
- 438 BC: completion of the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos
- Around 435 BC: creation of the statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
- Around 432 BC: accused of impiety and misappropriation of ivory, imprisoned in Athens
Works & Achievements
A colossal bronze statue of Athena as a warrior goddess, standing approximately 9 meters tall, erected on the Acropolis between the Propylaea and the Parthenon. So imposing was it that its gilded helmet and spear served as a landmark for sailors entering the port of Piraeus.
A bronze statue depicting Athena holding her helmet in her hand and showing her face without armor, commissioned by Athenian colonists on Lemnos. It was considered by Pausanias to be the most beautiful of all Pheidias's works.
The absolute masterpiece of Greek sculpture: a 12-meter statue in gold and ivory depicting Athena inside the Parthenon. Her shield bore carved scenes (the Amazonomachy), she held a Nike in her right hand, and her full armor was adorned with mythological scenes.
A 160-meter frieze in Pentelic marble carved in low relief depicting the procession of the Great Panathenaea, with horsemen, offering-bearers, and the gods of Olympus. Pheidias devised the iconographic program and oversaw its execution by his workshop.
A seated statue of Zeus approximately 13 meters tall in gold and ivory, ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. So immense was it that, according to Strabo, if the god were to stand he would break through the roof of the temple; it was admired for nearly nine centuries before disappearing.
A statue of Athena the war goddess in gilded cedarwood with face, hands, and feet in Pentelic marble, commissioned in gratitude for the victory at Plataea. It illustrates the mixed technique (acrolithic) that Pheidias had mastered before moving on to the chryselephantine technique.
Anecdotes
Phidias was a close personal friend of Pericles, the most powerful statesman in Athens. It was to him that Pericles entrusted the supervision of the entire Acropolis building project around 447 BC. This friendship earned him the hostility of the statesman's political enemies, who attacked Pericles through him around 432 BC by accusing Phidias of embezzling the gold and ivory intended for the statue of Athena.
To guard against any accusation of theft, Phidias had devised the idea of attaching the gold plates of the Athena statue in such a way that they could be removed and weighed at any time. Despite this precaution, his adversaries accused him of impiety for having depicted his own face and that of Pericles on Athena's shield — a sacrilege in the eyes of the Athenians.
In his workshop at Olympia — uncovered by archaeologists between 1954 and 1958 — sculptor's tools, terracotta molds, and a cup bearing the Greek inscription 'I belong to Phidias' (ΦΕΙΔΙΟΥ ΕΙΜΙ) were discovered. This find made it possible to pinpoint with certainty the place where the statue of Zeus was created, confirming that the workshop dated to the sculptor's own lifetime.
The statue of Zeus at Olympia was so colossal (approximately 13 meters tall) that the geographer Strabo wrote that if Zeus had risen from his throne, he would have burst through the roof of the temple. The Roman general Aemilius Paullus, conqueror of Macedonia in 168 BC, declared that he felt he was beholding the god himself when he gazed upon it.
Quintilian, a Roman rhetorician of the 1st century AD, made a celebrated judgment about Phidias: he had managed to 'add something to received religion,' so closely did the majesty of his works match that of the gods themselves. This phrase captures the idea that Phidias had not merely depicted the gods but had given them a definitive form in the imagination of the ancient world.
Primary Sources
Phidias presided over and supervised everything for Pericles, even though great architects and artists were employed on the various works. [...] The enemies of Pericles were jealous of his glory and attacked him through Phidias, accusing him of impiety for having represented on the shield of Athena his own portrait and that of Pericles.
The statue of Zeus is made of gold and ivory; the god is seated on a throne. In his right hand he holds a Nike in gold and ivory, and in his left hand a scepter adorned with every kind of metal, with an eagle perched at the top. The god's sandals are of gold, his mantle likewise; figures and lilies are wrought upon it.
Phidias is generally regarded as having revealed the glory of the art of chryselephantine sculpture. His Athena in the Parthenon stands twenty-six cubits high and is made entirely of ivory and gold; in the center of her helmet is placed an image of the Sphinx.
Phidias created the chryselephantine statue of Zeus for the temple at Olympia. It was so large that, although the temple itself was very spacious, the artist seemed to have misjudged the proportions: he seated the god, but the head almost touches the ceiling, giving the impression that if Zeus were to stand he would lift off the roof.
Phidias is judged the most skilled at representing gods rather than men. In ivory, none can be compared to him, and this would hold true even if one considered only the Jupiter at Olympia and the Minerva at Athens. He added something to the religion as received, so fully does the majesty of the work equal the majesty of the god.
Key Places
Temple of Athena Parthenos built between 447 and 438 BC on the rock of the Acropolis. Phidias oversaw the entire project and created the colossal chryselephantine statue of Athena housed within it, standing approximately 12 meters tall.
Site of the Olympic Games in the Peloponnese, where Phidias created the statue of Zeus between 435 and 432 BC — counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. His workshop, uncovered by archaeologists in 1954, stood adjacent to the temple.
A rectangular building discovered to the west of the Temple of Zeus, built to the same dimensions as the temple's nave so that work could be carried out at full scale. Excavations yielded tools, molds, and the famous cup bearing his name.
The heart of Athenian civic and intellectual life, where Phidias — as Pericles' official artist — rubbed shoulders with philosophers, architects, and politicians. It was also the setting for public trials, including the one that led to his condemnation.
Between the Propylaea and the Parthenon once stood the enormous bronze statue of Athena Promachos, created by Phidias around 460 BC. The gilded tip of her spear and her gleaming helmet were visible from Cape Sounion, over 50 kilometers away.