Detailing the mythology behind the Greek god Zeus, this volume also includes information about the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.?Sculpted in 432 BC by Greek artist Phidias, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia is one of the most recognized Ancient Wonders. Nearly 40 feet (12 meters) tall, the statue occupied half of the width of the temple where it sat. Ancient Greek geographer Strabo once noted in the first century BC that "if Zeus were to stand up, he would unroof the temple."?Made of ivory and gold-plated bronze, the statue sat in an intricate throne of cedar inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony and precious gems. In Zeus??right hand, he held a small statue of the goddess of victory, Nike. In his left hand, there was a scepter with an eagle perched on top.?It is believed that the Roman Emperor Caligula was the cause of the statue?s destruction. According to Roman historian Suetonius, Caligula gave orders that statues of gods that were especially famous, including that of Zeus at Olympia, were to be brought from Greece in order to have their heads removed and a marble head of Caligula put in their place. According to legend, just as workers were moving stones to disassemble the Statue of Zeus, there was a loud moment of laughter, followed by the collapsing of scaffolding and the structure, killing some workers and leaving others to flee for their lives.?Until recently, historians and archaeologists debated the time period in which the statue was built. The recent discovery of Phidias??workshop in the 1950s confirms that the temple was completed around the third quarter of the fifth century BC. Today, archaeologists continue to study the techniques Phidias used to construct the temple and the statue, and admirers of Ancient Greece admire the statue?s place on the Ancient Wonders list.

This monumental work traces the development and growth of the worship of Zeus as the god of lightning and thunder.

This book began to take shape following a conference on the Statue of Zeus at Olympia held at the University of Queensland in July 2008. In line with the main themes of the conference, the book has two fundamental aims: the first is to recognise the unsurpassed reputation of the Zeus in antiquity, to move beyond the framework provided by the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and to treat the famous statue in depth, as befits its unique importance in ancient times; the second aim is to employ a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives in the hope of capturing more accurately than before something of that unique importance. The book is aimed at academic specialists in a variety of disciplines (such as art, archaeology, history, literature, and cultural poetics), though it is also intended to be accessible to undergraduates and certainly to research students. The audience will primarily be one interested in classical antiquity, but there are chapters which trace the story and influence of the Zeus through the Byzantine, Renaissance, and early modern periods, and into more recent centuries in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

The scholarly tendency has too often weakened the conspicuous novelty and originality that characterizes Zeus in the Iliad. This book remedies that tendency and depicts the extraordinary figure of Zeus: lord (or impersonation) of lightning and thunders, exclusive master of human destiny --and therefore of human history—and chief of Olympus. This unique personality endowed with polyvalent powers represents itself the conflict between superhuman moral indifference for mortal destiny and anthropomorphic feelings for human beings: he both preordains the death of his son and weeps on his demise. Zeus embodies the Mysterium tremendum. This new Zeus cannot glance at the past image that the tradition painted of him without smiling at its simplicity and disrespect: a parodic or amusing tone surrounds him as he refers or is referred to aspects of his traditional image. The great characters of the Poem give two wise responses to Zeus, lord of destiny: "heroic death" or serene acceptance. We, the readers, are expected to react in the same way.

In the earliest extant works of Greek literature, Zeus reigns supreme in the Olympian hierarchy. However, scattered and scanty though they may be, there are allusions to threats of rebellion which challenge Zeus' supremacy. This book examines these passages, drawn from Homer, Hesiod and the "Homeric Hymns", to offer some new interpretations. While focusing on the theme of cosmic/divine strife, it becomes clear that hints of lost legends underlie these texts. Tracing their hidden logic helps to improve our understanding of early Greek poetry.