Pheidias, Sculptor to the Gods

The Athena Parthenos, an erect, armed goddess, measured at least 33 feet in height (10.1 meters). The Olympian Zeus, seated on an ebony throne, rose 45 feet (13.5 meters), nearly dislodging the roof of his temple. Pheidias made both of them chryselephantine.

In fact, the historical and archaeological record suggests, Pheidias made colossal chryselephantine sculptures possible, inventing the forging and shaving methods necessary to complete enormous statues of those materials, performing the engineering calculations required to draft the gigantic works, and charting the interior skeleton which held it all together.

The Ruins of Pheidias's Workshop at Olympia, over which a Byzantine basilica sits View it in the Perseus Collection

Holes still visible on the acropolis in Athens indicate that Pheidias fashioned the visible parts of his great sculptures around a semi-hollow core, in which stood a framework of wooden beams which held the body together by affixing each portion-- extremity and drapery alike-- to a central column, possibly metal but more likely a wooden mast. The core of the Zeus, archeologists now believe, came apart in large blocks so that it could be moved from the workshop into the temple. Around this inner skeleton, some scholars speculate, chains and counterbalances hung, so that the figure could adopt a realistic though mechanically difficult pose-- such as the Athena holding a Winged Victory in her outstretched right hand without relying on a column, which some believe Pheidias put there to prevent his goddess's limb from snapping off its body (Walston, 279).

"It hardly need be said that the exterior of these great statues revealed none of the signs of the careful and sober work in the construction of their interior" (Walston, 281). In fact, the second-century AD writer Lucian remarked that inside the statues, one could find "one tangle of bars, bolts, nails, planks, wedges, with pitch and mortar and everything that is unsightly, not to mention a possible colony of rats and mice" (Leipen, 20).

Athena expert Neda Leipen argued that, at least in the case of the Parthenos, sheets of gold and ivory were shaped directly over its wooden core and subsequently attached by fitting the exterior pieces into grooves cut in the wood, although Pheidias may have lined the grooves with bronze to insure their future efficacy. However, another scholar posited that the sculptor, sparing no expense, created an inner skin of bronze, covering the whole of the wooden skeleton. To this, in turn, workmen attached the gold and ivory plates. Although moderns have little concrete evidence as to the actual method used, the latter system seems more probable, as Pericles had already covered the cost of the statue, and the bronze would, significantly more-so than the wood, protect the Athena from natural deterioration (Leipen, 21).

Finally, the Athena was most likely polychromatic, as smelting gold for different periods of time under different heat and stress conditions tends to create small but noticeable variations in its surface color. Both statue's ivory, too, would-- if Pheidias so desired-- develop assorted hues and shades simply unachievable in marble statuary. Analysis of the volume of gold used in the Athena also indicates that some of her ornaments, likely the snake and shield, were not gold but bronze. And the Zeus, of course, had his ebony and bejeweled throne, along with a scepter made from every known metal.

Care for the chryselephantine materials did not end when Pheidias packed up his tools. Instead, as Pausanias relates, hereditary retainers stood by the Olympian Zeus, insuring that his wooden innards and ivory skin did not swell and crack (Spivey, 170). Many Greeks believed that the enormous black Eleusinian stone reflecting pool filled with olive oil guarded Zeus against the marshy climate in Elis, but modern scholars assert that, since olive oil does not evaporate and could not conceivably dry out an over-humidified statue, another rationale for the pool exists.

Leipen believes that Pheidias was inspired by his own work on the Acropolis, where the dry climate necessitated placing a large a pool of water before the Athena in order to keep her wood and ivory from drying out. Impressed by this obligatory fixture's effect on his statue, Pheidias decided to concentrate the results. At Olympia, he chose black stone for the base because it acted like a mirror, the reflection from which would be displayed on the thick, still surface of the oil. Additionally, the oil's green pigment would cast a resplendent glow upon the surface of the god.

Rodent colonies and fantastic tricks of engineering aside, none can deny Pheidias's architectural and aesthetic achievements. For he could envision a statue no less than seven times life-size, and then fashion it from one of the world's most valuable metals and the remains of an exotic animal, the useful parts of which could not exceed a foot in diameter or several feet in length. Pheidias's creations were, without doubt, wonders to behold.

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