Andrew Reyes Ancient Humanities Professor The name Phidias will be remembered for the rest of time. Phidias was a sculptor born around 490 BC. Phidias is often recognized as a the most renown ancient Greek sculptors. While there are no originals of his work remaining, his reputation has been made well known through various writings. Most of the writings give praise to Phidias. His two greatest contributions came from sculptures; one of Athena, and the other of Zeus.
Phidias was a man recognized for his talents, it is a shame that this generation or generations to come will never get to see his work first hand. Phidias' work on Athena was marveled upon for centuries. Phidias' colossal statue of Athena was housed in the Parthenon and
...was displayed the symbol of Athens. It is believed that the statue was damaged in several fires and eventually was burned beyond repair around the fifth century. The statue was believed to be of great stature and heavy in gold. The sculpture was assembled on a wooden core, covered with shaped bronze plates covered in turn with removable gold plates, save for the ivory surfaces of the goddess's face and arms; the gold weighed 44 talents, the equivalent f about 2,500 pounds (1 , 100 kg); the Athena Parthenos embodied a sizeable part of the treasury of Athens (Phidias, 2010). " The Second contribution was similar to Athena. Zeus was erected in the temple of Zeus in approximately 432 BC. Similar to Athena it was a chryselephantine, meaning that is was both gold and ivory.
