In 433 B.C. at Olympia, Greece, the Statue of Zeus was completed. It left its Greek inhabitants speechless and many thought that they had seen the real Zeus when they visited the statue.

In 466-456 B.C., a temple was built in Olympia. It had gigantic columns and was surrounded by stone blocks. A few years after the structure was completed, a well-known sculptor from Athens, Phidias, was elected to design a statue of Zeus in the temple.

Phidias and other workers first built the skeleton of the Greek god. Later, they covered it with ivory, for the skin, and gold for its clothing. Jewels were later added on to give the Statue of Zeus more significance. The completed statue was 43 feet tall (13 meters). Nowadays, it would have cost ten million dollars to build it!

The statue stood for another 800 years until Romans banned the Olympic Games and shut down all Greek temples and monuments. The Statue of Zeus was then sent to Constantinople where it was demolished in a fire in 462 A.D.

That was the end of the great Statue of Zeus. Legend has it that Zeus let out such a loud roar of laughter, that it frightened away a group of workers who were assigned to move the statue to Rome.