The enormous Statue of Zeus at Olympia in Greece was created by the great
sculptor Pheidias. Zeus was the Greek god in whose honor the ancient Olympic
games were held. He used thin plates of ivory (bone material from animals) over
a wooden framework to create Zeus' flesh. The statue was moved by the Greeks to
a palace in Constantinople, where in 462 A.D., it was destroyed by fire. While
there were said to be some copies of the 13 m (43 ft) high statue made, one of
the most famous being a large prototype at Cyrene in Libya, there are none that
have survived to the present day. Much of our visual representation comes from
ancient Greek coins bearing the statue's likeness.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia