What was the approximate height of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia?

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was approximately 12 meters tall. Modern estimates commonly place the seated figure at about 12.4 meters, making the stored answer a suitable rounded figure.

The Greek sculptor Phidias created the statue around 435 BC for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. It was a chryselephantine sculpture, built on a wooden framework and covered with ivory plates and gold panels. Zeus sat on an elaborately decorated cedarwood throne.

The statue was designed to appear overwhelmingly large inside the temple. The ancient geographer Strabo wrote that Zeus seemed so tall that, if he stood up, he might remove the temple roof. This helps explain why estimates sometimes vary slightly rather than giving one exact height.

The statue was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was eventually lost and destroyed, and no complete original survives; descriptions, coins and later artistic representations provide much of what is known about it.