THE STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA

                  THE STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA

This is the statue of the god in whose honor the Ancient Olympic Games were held. It was located on the land that gave its very name to the Olympics. The ancient Greek calendar starts in 776 BC, for the Olympics games are believed to have started that year. The magnificent temple of Zeus was designed by the architect Libon and was built around 450 BC. The Athenian sculptor Pheidias was assigned for the “sacred” task, of sculpting the statue of Zeus.

Olympia was struck by earthquakes, landslides and floods, and the temple was damaged by fire in the fifth century AD. Earlier, the statue had been transported by wealthy Greeks to a palace in Constantinople. There, it survived until it was destroyed by a severe fire in AD 462. Today nothing remains at the site of the old temple except rocks and debris, the foundation of the building, and fallen columns.