Phidias created the statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The colossal seated image was made for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia in the fifth century BCE. Ancient accounts credit the Athenian sculptor Phidias, who had also worked on major sculptures for the Parthenon. The statue used a chryselephantine technique: gold plates covered the clothing and ivory represented exposed flesh over a wooden framework.
Ancient writers described Zeus as seated on a richly decorated throne, holding a figure of Nike in one hand and a scepter in the other. The statue’s enormous scale made the seated god nearly reach the temple roof.
The sculpture no longer survives, and its exact appearance is reconstructed from literary descriptions, coins, and later artistic representations. It should not be confused with the surviving marble Temple of Zeus sculptures or with Roman copies of other Greek statues.