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I am Bob Brandy, a reporter. I'm here at Olympia, at the site of The Statue of Zeus. I have just traveled back through time to 470 B.C., the time when Phidias built the Statue of Zeus. The site was made to commemorate the king of gods, Zeus. The site is made up of a stadium and a temple. Libon designed the massive shrine of Zeus, but an Athenian sculptor named Phidias constructed it. Phidias stated to build it around 470 B.C. and he finished around 460 BC. Phidias, who also designed the statue of Athena in the Parthenon, has a workshop to the west of the huge temple. The statue is located in the western end of the temple. The shrine of the head of Zeus fits in the workshop by just a few feet. It was also built so it could just fit in the temple. It was made more complex around 450 BC because at first the statue was not worthy of the king of gods. I think the appearance of Zeus is the most marvelous part of the whole temple. It is about 22 feet wide and about 40 feet tall. That is equal to a four-story building! The head of Zeus almost touched the roof. The base is about 20 feet wide and 3 feet high. The skin of this statue is made of ivory, and the beard, hair, and robe is composed of gold. The legs of the shrine were decorated with sphinxes. The temple attracts many visitors because of its size and beauty. In the right hand of Zeus is a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory. In his left is a scepter with an eagle on top. I needed to use my umbrella because the weather in Olympia was so damp. The statue needs to have special care because it is so damp. I traveled back to 462 AD in Constantinople where I found the statue destroyed. Replicas of the statue were built but none of them survived. Coins gave researchers clues as to what the temple looked like. I think The Statue of Zeus is one of the most beautiful and massive wonders of the world. |
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