Among the seven wonders of ancient times, the most famous, besides the Egyptian pyramids, is the statue of Zeus on the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece. Zeus is a figure in ancient Greek mythology. After he overthrew the Titans and became the ruler of the universe, he established the rule of the Olympus gods headed by him. He was revered as the "father of the gods" (雷电之之God), supernatural powers, as long as the frown will shake the mountain.
In order to please the ancient Greeks, sacrifices to Zeus have been held in Olympia every four years since 776 BC. The Zeus Great Feast, there will be sports competitions and cultural performances, and the winners will be awarded with olive wreaths, which will be honored throughout Greece. The modern Olympic Games originated here.
The walls around the Olympian Zeus Temple are decorated with marbles shipped from the island of Los Angeles in the Mediterranean. In 457 BC, the Greeks created a statue of Zeus in the Temple of Zeus. This statue is a masterpiece of Phidias, the most famous engraver of the Pericles era in Athens. He is a modeling artist with many achievements. , The throne of the god statue is carved with marble and is 15 meters high, and the body of the god statue is carved from ebony wood, which is 13.5 meters high, almost touching the roof of the temple.
The clothes of the statue of Zeus are decorated with gold leaves, the eyes are carved with gems, and the body is made of ivory and gold foil. Embedded on the wooden tire, it looks magnificent. The right hand of the idol raised a statue of the goddess of victory, and the left hand held a scepter with an eagle carved on it. The outside of the ebony chair is inlaid with gold, and many gods are carved on it.
The back of the chair is sculptured with sister gods symbolizing beauty, elegance and joy, and the goddesses of the three seasons (spring, summer and winter). On the lower part of the chair are carved the dancing goddess of victory and the sphinx (monster) moon The scene where the goddess and the sun god killed the daughter of the goddess Niobe.
The history of the destruction of the statue of Zeus has been different. One theory is that the Eastern Roman emperor Theodorus I moved the idol to the capital Constantinople, and the idol was destroyed by a fire in 475 AD; the other is due to the occurrence of 523 AD and 551 AD The two strong earthquakes in China collapsed the Temple of Zeus and destroyed the statue of Zeus. Due to the impact of multiple floods, its remains have long been buried in sediment. Some coins of ancient Rome still retain the statue of Zeus, and there is a detailed record of the temple of Zeus in an ancient Greek travel account that has been preserved to this day.
In 1829, the French archaeological team conducted six weeks of excavation on the site of the Temple of Zeus with little gain . Since 1875, the German archaeological team has continued to excavate, but no statue of Zeus has been discovered. From 1954 to 1958, many excavations were carried out, and a large number of Athens-style pottery and some ivory shards, glass, and tools used by ancient craftsmen were discovered. To this day, visitors can still see the base of the statue of Zeus in Olympia (the site of the Olympic Games).
