1. Phidias – The man who brought fame to Athens and Olympia. Φειδίας
2. Phidias started out as a painter learning how to sculpt. His master was Ageladaswho taught him everything. Most of his famous works were done under Athenian General Cimon. At that time, Persia had burnt down Athens in revenge of Sardis. To bring back the glory, they needed a mastermind. That mastermind was Phidias! On way to the top
3. A Close Friend Pericles was the administrator during the time Phidias name was spread through out Greece. As Thucydides said, "In name it was a democracy, but in reality a government by the first man.” They developed a close friendship over time and in future, it would cost Phidias. Pericles soon made Phidias the chief - in – charge for public affairs And the first affair he dealt with was the Athena Parthenon.
4. To bring back the glory to Athens, Phidias decided to build Parthenon. Phidias intentions were only to bring back fame and show his skills to the people of Greece. Unintentionally, he opened up jobs for people for about 10 years. By building Parthenon, his name was heard everywhere. It brought him fame and glory for life. Start of Something Big
5. Parthenon Parthenon is famous for the statue of Athena. It rose to about 40 feet tall. It was made of gold, ivory, wood and precious stones or gems. The Athena Parthenon was not build in the actual temple. Phidias had a studio built to work on 500 or more statues including the Athena Parthenon. Imagine people moving 12 ton and 40 feet tall statue, they would have needed all the superheroes for that! Just imagine Hercules caring it!
6. Pericles and his wife visiting Phidias in his studio who was working on Athena Parthenon. They are surrounded by different statues.
8. Pericles had a lot of enemies and they aimed for his wife and close friend, Phidias. They blamed two accusation; one false, one true. First one was that Phidias stole some of the gold form the Athena statue, which was proven false. Second one was impiety. In simple words, Phidias carved his and Pericles’ faces on shield of Athens. That was proven true. So he fled Athens and went to Olympia to escape the verdict. Cost of Friendship
10. Phidias found his hiding place in Olympia. He transferred all his pupils and school to Olympia and continued their studies. But he also needed work and luck was on his side. There he started working on the Temple of Zeus, that brought him fame and glory. New life
11. Zeus He also had a studio to work on the statue of Zeus. With the similar interior of Zeus. Temple of Zeus did not have nearly as many as statues as Parthenon but it lived up to the glory. Zeus was made of ivory, gold and gems. The skin was ivory, clothes were gold and gems were embellishments. Some people even considered it to be better than Athena. Artifacts found in workshop
13. Phidias’ past came back to haunt him. Even in Olympia, he was charged with impiety. But before that, he imprinted Zeus on coins. For the impiety accusation, he was sent to prison. And died in prison around 430 B.C. That they the world had lost a mastermind that, to this day, has not been re-born. Haunting Past
14. Phidias was greatly inspired by Homer and how he conveyed portraits of Gods. Though he would not exaggerate in his statues as Homer did in his poems. It is known that Phidias would start out with a wooden framework and then start building his statue. He had architects, bronze-founders, goldsmiths, and plenty of other people working under him. Though all the credit goes to Phidias since he came up with the idea. Inspirations & Work styles
15. Phidias’s style was simple and elegant. And that is what won the hearts of people. Researcher believe that his emotions, and understanding exceed far beyond those of present – day people. After all Phidias was considered one of the most intellectual people. And his statues are considered one of the Ancient Seven Wonders. Styles
16. ιδιοφυία Phidias is the most brilliant sculptors of the ancient time. It is even considered that no one, in past life or present, can match up to him. It is even believed that there might be few to none future sculptor that can match up to him.
