The temple of Zeus is located in the southeast of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. It was built to worship Zeus and is one of the largest temples in ancient Greece. The temple of Zeus was built in 470 BC and completed in 456 BC. It was designed by the architect Libon. The statue of Zeus was in the charge of the sculptor Phidias. Until 86 BC, the Roman commander Sulla captured Athens, destroyed the unfinished buildings, and removed some stone columns and other building materials to Rome. To this day, they can still be seen on the ruins of ancient Rome Square in the center of Rome. Zeus Temple is especially famous for its ivory and gold statues.

The temple of Zeus was built in the style of Ionia. Later, it was changed to the style of Corinthian stone columns, and marble was used everywhere. The whole building is located on a foundation 205 meters long and 130 meters wide. The temple itself is 107.75 meters long and 41 meters wide, with 104 Corinthian columns. Each stone pillar is 17.25 meters high, with the top diameter of 1.3 meters. It uses about 15500 tons of marble. Like many ancient Greek temples, the temple of Zeus also suffered serious damage, with only 13 of the 104 pillars remaining. The Temple of Zeus and Hadrian Arch face each other across the road. The Temple of Zeus is located in the south of the road, while Hadrian Arch is located in the north of the road. Both buildings were built by Hadrian, the king of the Roman Empire, more than 1900 years ago. We can no longer see the original form of the temple of Zeus and the arch of Hadrian. We can only recall the glory of that time through the ruins.
The temple of Zeus was the religious center of ancient Greece. The temple is located in the southeast of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, in the middle of a vast flat land on the banks of the Irisos River. It is the area controlled by Zeus, the god of ancient Greek gods; This place is full of yellow hills. But in ancient Greece, it was surrounded by green valleys and clear streams. The scenery was elegant. There was a dense forest not far away. There were more flowers and trees on both sides of the path in the forest. It was a religious center at that time. In ancient Greece, the place was located outside the city wall of Athens. In the era of Emperor Hadrian, in order to expand the scale of Athens, the city wall was expanded outward, and the temple was brought into the city.

The temple of Zeus was built between 470 and 456 BC, and its style is Doric. Its base is 64x28m, with six columns on the wide side and 13 columns on the long side. It is one of the most important buildings in early ancient Europe. There are marble carvings on the mountain wall: on the mountain wall on the east side of the front is a local legend, in which Pelops competed with the king of Eris, and Zeus was the master of fate. He faced Pelops on the right, and finally Pelops won; On the western gable on the back is carved the battle between Rabis and centaurs; Twelve great achievements of Hercules are carved on the porch of the inner hall. In the inner hall is a 12 meter high statue of Zeus, which is one of the seven wonders of the world.
The workshop for shaping this statue is located about 100 meters west of the temple. The temple was converted into a church during the Byzantine period. An earthquake in the 6th century caused the temple to collapse and destroyed all buildings above the foundation wall.
Before the opening of the Olympic Games held in Athens in 2004, people re erected a collapsed temple column (the second one from the west on the north side), and mounted a 12 ton column head on its 10.5 meter high top, which was copied according to the prototype. In this way, visitors can imagine the scale of the original temple.

The temple of Zeus was built between 470 and 456 BC, and its style is Doric. Its base is 64x28m, with six columns on the wide side and 13 columns on the long side. It is one of the most important buildings in early ancient Europe. There are marble carvings on the mountain wall: on the mountain wall on the east side of the front is a local legend, in which Pelops competed with the king of Eris, and Zeus was the master of fate. He faced Pelops on the right, and finally Pelops won; On the western gable on the back is carved the battle between Rabis and centaurs; Twelve great achievements of Hercules are carved on the porch of the inner hall. In the inner hall is a 12 meter high statue of Zeus, which is one of the seven wonders of the world.
The workshop for shaping this statue is located about 100 meters west of the temple. The temple was converted into a church during the Byzantine period. An earthquake in the 6th century caused the temple to collapse and destroyed all buildings above the foundation wall.
Before the opening of the Olympic Games held in Athens in 2004, people re erected a collapsed temple column (the second one from the west on the north side), and mounted a 12 ton column head on its 10.5 meter high top, which was copied according to the prototype. In this way, visitors can imagine the scale of the original temple.
The temple itself is Doricorder architecture. The top of the temple is made of marble. The temple is supported by 34 Corinthian stone columns about 17 meters high, with an area of 41.1 meters x 107.75 meters. The stone statues in front of and behind the temple are all carved from the marble of Paros Island. Many statues on the western herringbone eaves of the temple are in the style of Athens. Does Zeus like this construction? It is said that when Phidias was building the statue, he saw Olympus ask Zeus the god, and the great god answered by dropping thunder and lightning, which broke the temple pavement. As for the main character of the temple, "Zeus", used the so-called "chriselephantine" technology, which is to add ivory carved muscles and gold clothing on the wooden frame. It took eight years to complete the throne, which was also covered with gold and inlaid with ebony, precious stones and glass.
The statue of Zeus is 12 meters high and has an olive crown made of gold. It sits on a magnificent throne made of fir wood and is decorated with gold, ivory, ebony and various precious gems. On the right hand of the statue of Zeus, there is a small Nicole with a crown, the goddess of victory in mythology. This statue is also made of gold and ivory. In his right hand was a scepter made of gold, with an eagle beside it. [2]
Corinthian order
In the book "A Journey to Greece" by the traveler Pausanias, the statue of Zeus was described in detail, It is recorded in the book: "The main body of Zeus God is made of wood, the exposed part of his body is pasted with ivory, and his clothes are covered with gold. He wears a crown woven of olive branches on his head, holds the Statue of Victory made of ivory and gold in his right hand, and holds a scepter inlaid with various metals in his left hand, with a vulture resting on its top.". As for his throne, the statues of "Elegant Three Goddesses" and "Seasonal Three Goddesses" (spring, summer and winter) are carved on the head and behind the head of the statue; The legs and feet are decorated with the dancing Victory Goddess and Sphinx, and other Greek gods are decorated. The bottom is 6.55 meters wide and 1 meter high, while the statue is about 13 meters high, which is equivalent to a four story modern building. Behind the statue hung a sacred cloth that had been looted from the temple in Jerusalem. Phidias planned the changes around more precisely, including the light from the temple gate to the statue. In order to make the face of the statue more beautiful and bright, he built a large and shallow olive oil pool in front of the statue, which was inlaid with black marble, and reflected the light with olive oil. During the erection, more workers came to wipe the ivory, which was called "FIDIAS Polisher".
It is said that the priest of Olympia, who was very appreciative of the masterpiece of Phidias, appointed his descendants to take charge of the preservation of the statue of Zeus and enjoy the glory forever.

However, during the period from 1954 to 1958, archaeologists carried out a series of exciting excavations. Not far from the Temple of Zeus, they excavated the site of the work place of Phidias, which was the same size and shape as the main room of the Temple. Phidias can sculpt the statue of Zeus in this temple like environment without interfering with the work of the temple. Phidias must have selected a group of workers in Athens and brought them to Olympia. On the site of his workshop, many Athenian pottery made in 435 B.C. (after the completion of the statue of Zeus by Phidias, he died in 432 B.C.), as well as ivory, glass, goldsmith's tools, and fragments of terra cotta models were found, which seemed to be used to make some clothes for the gods. Among the unearthed pottery, there is a broken cup with fine engraved words: "I belong to FIDIAS".

The composition materials, age background and decorative statues of Zeus can all be described in detail, but the style of FIDIAS' works is difficult to determine. According to the ancient documents, the technology of sculpture of gods by Phidias reached the peak, which can make the gods have an unattainable majesty. In particular, the image of Zeus can add a unique character to the ordinary religious image. In order to find out the true meaning of this sentence (all the original works of the statue of Phidias have been lost), experts and scholars have made individual studies on the replicas of the statue of Phidias for many years, hoping to find out the common features. They paid particular attention to the decorative statues of the Parthenon in Athens, which were said to have been supervised by Phidias. Of course, it is difficult to determine which female statue Fiducias once carved himself; Because he is not only responsible for supervising the production, but also for sculpting the giant statue of Athena in the temple, he must be very busy. However, it is likely that the design and style of all the statues will be decided by FIDIAS alone. The works closest to the style of FIDIAS may be the statues on the horizontal ribbons in the east of the temple, but they are different in scale. These statues strike a delicate balance between the early serious style and the later relaxed and delicate style.

Although the statue of Zeus has disappeared in the world, he still exists in another way. The face of the great Zeus has become the omnipotent Christ of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the small church of St. Francis in Kola, Istanbul, on the top of the throne sits the god Olympia Zeus, who has been transformed into Christ. How on earth did this pagan god transform into a representation of Christ? Archaeologists estimate that there are several reasons. First, the statue of Olympia itself is an extremely perfect spectacle; Second, the statue represents the highest divinity for almost a thousand years.

Zeus Temple is the religious center of Greece. There are many kinds of sacrifices sent by the city states and civilians. For hundreds of years, he has been worshipping Zeus at the open-air altar. It is said that the altar was made of ashes of various sacrifices to Zeus. The Temple of Zeus was built in 470 BC. In the fifth century BC, the local architect Libon of Elis supervised the construction of a magnificent temple as the Temple of Zeus, which was completed in 456 BC. The stone statues in front of and behind the temple were all carved from the marble of Paros Island, and the statue of Zeus was in the charge of the sculptor Phidias.
Many statues on the western herringbone eaves of the temple are in the style of Athens. At that time, it was because of the need for Athenian statues in the temple, or because of the popularity of Phidias, the people who built the temple specially invited him to work in Olympia as a sculptor,
It is said that when he was sculpting the giant statue of Athena in the Parthenon Temple, he was accused of stealing valuable materials, was demoted, left his hometown Athens to live in exile, and died in Olympia. The only credibility of this statement is that FIDIAS was friends with his then name, Pericles. Any attack on his reputation would have a negative impact on Pericles, so FIDIAS began to escape.
The earliest modern excavation in Olympia was conducted by a French expedition in 1829. It lasted six weeks. It was the German inspection team that made modern people know more about Olympia. Since 1875, they have been excavating almost without interruption. Although they have found the temple of Zeus and the statues for decoration, and partially restored the original shape of the temple of Zeus, they have never found any trace of the statue of Zeus itself.
Temple of Zeus
Temple of Zeus
The deities have been worshipped by people for more than 900 years, but Christianity ended everything in the end. In 393 AD, the Roman emperor Theodsius I resolutely issued a decree to stop the competition, and the ancient Olympic Games ended in this year. Then, in 426 AD, another order was issued to destroy the pagan temple, so the statue of Zeus was destroyed, and the studio of Fidesia was also changed into a church, and ancient Greece was wiped out; The collapsed stone columns in the temple were destroyed in the earthquake in 522 and 551 A.D., and the stone materials were demolished and transformed into a fortress against barbarian invasion. Later, floods often occurred in Olympia, and the whole city was buried under thick mud. Fortunately, the statue had been transported to Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) before this, and was collected by Louis Xi in the palace for 60 years. Unfortunately, it was also destroyed in the urban riots.
Although the statue of Zeus has disappeared in the world, he still exists in another way. The face of the great Zeus has become the omnipotent Christ of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the small church of St. Francis in Kola, Istanbul, the god Olympia Zeus, who has been transformed into Christ, sits on the top throne.

Zeus (Greek: Ζεύς， or Δίας）， The god of heaven, the highest god in ancient Greek mythology, is called Jupiter (Latin: Jupiter) and Cronus in Roman mythology（ Κρόνος） And Riya（ Ρέα） The youngest son born. Kronos gained the supreme power by overthrowing his father Ulanos. He learned that he would be overthrown by his children just like his father, so he swallowed his children. His wife, Rhea, could not bear Zeus to be swallowed, so she took a stone and pretended that Zeus would swallow it for him. When Zeus grew up, he united his brothers and sisters to fight against his father and launched a fierce struggle. After ten years of war, he defeated his father with the help of his grandmother Gaia, the Earth Goddess. Zeus and his brothers Poseidon and Hades were in charge of the heaven, the sea and the underworld. From then on Zeus became the ruler of the universe. The Latin name of Jupiter comes from him.
Zeus and many goddesses and women gave birth to many descendants, including Apollo and Artemis brother and sister, Dionysus, Heracles, etc. Zeus did everything he could to get close to the goddess and women, and he was always furtive, so he always made Hera angry. In order not to be known by Hera about the location of his affair, he always tried to block Hera in various ways. Zeus also had some male lovers, such as Ganymede.