The Temple of Zeus at Olympia -The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World | Part 3

The statue of Zeus at Olympia existed for over 800 years and was a technological feat, sculpted by one of the most famous artists of classical Greece known for none other, than the parthenon in Athens. It drew thousands of pilgrims, and a Roman emperor even tried to steal it - but not without the wrath of the gods coming down upon him first. Can one statue really cause this much fuss? Let’s get into it.
Welcome to episode 3 of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series! Who actually came up with this list, and why is it only possible to visit one of them today? Did the rest of the wonders even exist? Let's find out.
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Strabo, who lived in the 1st century wrote:
The statue is made of ivory and it is of such size that although the temple itself is very large, the sculptor may be criticised for not having appreciated the correct proportions. He has shown Zeus seated, but with the head almost touching the ceiling, so that we have the impression that if Zeus moved to stand up, he would unroof the temple.
Pausanias, who was a geographer and writer in the 2nd century CE, gave us quite the vivid description of what the statue looked like. He wrote:
On his head lies a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. On his right hand he holds a figure of Victory made from ivory and gold… In his left hand the god holds his sceptre inlaid with every kind of metal, and the bird perched on the sceptre is an eagle. The sandals of the god are made of gold, as is his robe, and his garments are carved with animals and with lily flowers. The throne is decorated with gold and with precious stones, with ebony and with ivory.
Zeus rested his very fancy gold-gilded feet on a footstool that was decorated with a relief of an Amazonachy - which is a mythological battle between the Greeks and the Amazons.
The Throne that Zeus sat on was also extensively decorated, with sphinxes, more winged figures of victory, and a scene of the gods Apollo and Artemis shooting down all of Niobe’s children.- Another greek myth that I think is supposed to teach you not to brag about being super fertile and having lots of children to a goddess who only had two of them.
Pheidias also included another scene… one of Pantarkes who was the winner of the boy’s wrestling event at the 86th Olympiad… who was said to have been Pheidias’ lover! Oh damn, we love a good hidden love story captured forever in stone. He apparently also carved Pantarkes is Beautiful into Zeus’ little finger.
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#greekmythology #Archaeology #ancientgreece #ancienthistory #wondersoftheworld

[@DigItWithRaven]

Check out the full Ancient Wonders playlist here: kzbin.info/aero/PLckdsYfo5EkdgfiMYeiXUeuGU-Bzzs4TO

[@jerrycratsenberg989]

Wow! You re a marvelous story teller. Your personal slant and presentation are just plain lovely. Please continue!

[@alicedeeper]

I love your content and presentation, very fresh and informative - great stuff!

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks so much! Glad you love it all :)

[@andrewmortimer3317]

I had never heard of how much detail and care went into this statue. This video really helped me understand how important it was.

[@DigItWithRaven]

So happy I could shed more light on it!

[@lynyamasaki4045]

I like this series, Raven! Can’t wait for the rest

[@DigItWithRaven]

Neither can I!

[@rolfrolf9176]

I used to work in Olympia and got the chance to work with the molds for the golden clothes of the statue, that gave me just a small glimpse into how magnificent that statue must have been back then

[@davidcaldecoat7414]

I'm really enjoying seeing this series on the ancient wonders looking forward to the next one

[@saskiacowan8962]

I am loving this series, so much to learn!

[@DigItWithRaven]

So glad you're liking it!!

[@rolandkloka]

Great series. Keep up your incredible great work.

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks so much!

[@rolandkloka]

@@DigItWithRaven thank you for every video you put out.

[@frankmccann29]

Hello again pretty Raven. Love the video and your expertise ❤

[@Davlavi]

Awesome video.

[@elihinze3161]

So nice to unwind from the day with this video! I'm loving this series. :)

[@jrodriguez1374]

Yess another excellent wonder vid!

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks so much!

[@robbieg416]

I'm really liking this series!

[@DigItWithRaven]

Glad to hear it!

[@welcometonebalia]

Thank you.

[@tomislavsestan4514]

Great video. As always😃

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thank youuuuu!!

[@pattheplanter]

Amazonomachy, not amazonachy. Like titanomachy, -machy being battle, contest or labour. Interesting that the statue has so much in common with the statues of high gods in southwest Asia, like Canaan, Assyria and Mesopotamia. Footstool showing the defeat of enemies, throne and winged creatures supporting.

[@AlbertaGeek]

You just had to mention Istanbul and Constantinople. Now that song will be in my head all day.

[@pandakicker1]

I would be so overwhelmed with joy if I could visit the ancient temple of Zeus in all of its glory. His statue doesn’t scare me at all, but the deity himself is rather intimidating. I hav s nothing but respect and affection for Zeus and the other Theoi.

[@brianlafrazia8237]

Great stuff! Love these vids!! Look forward to each new one - keep up the awesome work!

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks so much!!

[@EdwinNikkels]

Thanks from Amsterdam, Raven!

[@aliceamos7070]

Olympos mountain (home of Zeus) and Olimpia are two different places, separated by hundreds of kilometers!

this

[@raydoyle5327]

Two different places ,, your rite,, she’s not credible.

[@classicslover]

And we love you back! Pro Tip for not being scared of the statue: Think back (as the nineties kid you are= ) to Disney's Hercules, where Zeus reintroduced Herc to Pegasus! Did you perchance see the Hercules Hero Parade in The Happiest Place on Earth? I did! = ). Think you can still find versions on KZbin! AND...you;re doing SUCH an excellent job on this series I recommend a DISNEY Adventure as your reward!

[@DigItWithRaven]

I may or may not have rewatched Hercules as “research” for this video 😉 I don’t know if I ever really saw the parade, though my family did Disney too many times to count! Also I think that at this time in my life, a reward would be more of a very looooong nap

[@classicslover]

@@DigItWithRaven I just rewatched Hercules last month! (LOVE Disney + ) A nap is a good idea...ESPECIALLY if you stay at an on-site Disney hotel. Were you to explore the Temple of the Forbidden Eye...for research...I would BRAVELY be your backup!

[@DigItWithRaven]

@@classicslover the shame I felt when I had to Google this because I have never been to the California one!

[@classicslover]

@@DigItWithRaven Well then, the repentance for that...and the path for you to regain your Disney Park street cred...is to go to the California one = )

[@dyscotopia]

Omigosh. I'd just be standing there mourning all the elephants lost to man's hubris

[@konstantinavalentina3850]

Off-Topic: (Dunno if you'll see or reply to this. I don't do Insta or Twitter so can't @ you those places) The Standard of Ur - I wonder if the tesserae or diamond shaped decorations in the borders signify something, perhaps something important because if they were purely decorative, they should, perhaps, be fairly uniform across this artifact, but, they're not. We have Red diamond shapes and then either blue diamond shapes picked out by lighter colored triangles, or, groups of triangles. The bordering designs also differ on each side, and we don't see these border designs on the ends. What information could these designs be attempting to record or tell us about the scenes depicted? Are these number values associated with the scenes? Date times? Also, if indicating numeric values, should they be considered through the lens of base 60, or however Sumerians counted? Every video I see about the Standard of Ur artifact only really talks about the figures depicted and doesn't even attempt to explain the irregular border decorations which could be a recording of important information. I would love to see what info you might could mebbe might enlighten us about these questions! :)

[@k0mm4nd3r_k3n]

I visited this site in February, and it was very pretty.

[@WildMen4444]

Hail to the Olympian Zeus!

[@sheilatodd6588]

Love you too❤

[@spankflaps1365]

How about a chariot race for pink scrolls? NOS. I need NOS.

[@koenfrowijn3710]

Wil you still finish the Indy movies or has that pasted

[@DigItWithRaven]

We’ve got one more to do! Jude and I are in different countries but once we’re back together, #4 is coming!

[@koenfrowijn3710]

@@DigItWithRaven and don’t forget 5th one is coming to and that’s is gonna be about Greek mythology

[@pandakicker1]

May Theodosius forever live in the deepest depths of the underworld never to return to the living again for his betrayal! - a Salty Polytheist who worships the Olympians

[@abdul2009]

Hades was a titan of light. And, alongside others, did most of the greatest work. Zeus and the rest were basically jelous, and upset because they couldn't do him wrong, or stop him from making them do better when they faltered. Much time after Hades passed, and some others too I think. The Book was brought for the first time to Earth, and specifically to Egypt, and accepted; bar by a few, who were jelous that others were so much more capable, and then, on top of that, it turns there is a All-powerful God. So they rebelled, and got mostly destroyed in their attempts to wrong the people of the book. So, they fled. Much time has passed and their decendant followers tried to retell the story making their ancestors to be the good; not portraying him as the one who tricked his brothers into dying at the bottom of a well, but the one whose brothers tried to because he actually got/made some great cloak. Not portaying that he was defeated and handed no book which lead to others following, but that he indeed was the special one, and recieved a book - oh no wait -, a tablet of commandments, which just so happened to grant him authority over the rest of the following, and that eventually he and his people were successful in the end. Anyhow, to carry on. One of the decendants of those who wronged the people of the book. So one of the decendants of Moses and the rest of the Judiats. Found their way to all these titans in the underworld/inner-earth. Using their manipulative ways, found their way to the top. Where they saw how great the titans were. Jelous and wanting to learn the source of their power, so they can take it for themselves, they sought out a strategy. And chose to befriend them, give them much admiration, and learn everything they can - the old school equivalent of the trend to "pick their brain". Before doing their thing and discouraging them out of it. Then they learned of Hades. And basically got super jelous. So, much time after abusing the remaining titans so they fell back to their old ways and whatnot, when the story got spread around - that is, of Hades -, it was a story of a darker & more evil character. But a counter story depicting him as more decent also went around - the jews spread both, so they had total control over the narratives concerning Hades & the others, that went around; and then they slowly & slowly altered them, by making the evil one make him look more evil, and the good one make him look more evil too, culminating in the childrens movie, where he was the villain.

[@abdul2009]

Oh!! Also, after they abused Zeus, and he went to his old ways. They learned he isnt so fantastic after all. And thus began to feel guilty. And so decided to do something so they feel better about themselves - because if they feel guilty it might mean they are not amazing people deserving only of the highest heaven. The jews already wanted to make sure people would no longer do the amazing things that made the jews so jelous and reminded the jews of their lack of capacity for doing decent work. They already had a plan. To spread the idea that intelligent discoveries and progress, is for the inferior to others - oh and they also believed in inequality, hence the development of so many inferiority complexes in more & more decent people as time went by. Oh, and to spread the idea that the opposite - so stupid behaviour - is for the superior to others. That way, everyone would do stupid behaviour, and the jews wouldn't feel so bad for being so stupid themselves. What is the stupid behaviour? Well the opposite of the intelligent discovering that was done at the time. Which was lifting heavier objects aimlessly, throwing things around, running aimlessly, etc. In a word: Sports. Because think about it - what is the real aim of any of it? Is there really any use to the activities they do? Or when it comes down to it, are they really not just throwing objects around, trying to lift heavier ones, and run around - or drive around - to get to the end of the running around session, before any of the others of them do so. I used to lift weights - and it wasn't really necessary, born from less mental health. The point is, compared to the discoveries that CAN ACTUALLY ADVANCE SOCIETY, sports is for the stupid. So they made Zeus seem like the greatest sportstar of all time - and made him seem like an idol. BRING FORTH - THE OLYMPIC GAMES!

[@josephanthro]

Me: Did I leave the stove on at home? Me, staring at the statue of Zeus: Eh, I won't worry about it [Apartment catches fire]

[@jamesonstalanthasyu]

The Temple of Zeus ... to the first Kryptonian on Earth.

[@pattheplanter]

I think you are underestimating the religious nature of British football. Wembley is a shrine to many.

[@drorberechya8041]

Thank you for the fascinating video(s)! A small comment: I think Mount Olympus is not in Olympia.

[@jacobvardy]

I'll sacrifice a bull to the cthonic algorithm for this video.

[@LukeBunyip]

All hail the algorithm, and it's thirst for blood.

[@TeethToothman]

😳❤️😳

[@Astroponicist]

Killed over pizza!!

[@grapeshot]

I said that statue of Zeus was full of mice. When it was slowly going the way of the dodo.

[@someinteresting]

Sorry, in what area mount Olympus is? Greece? Because it certainly isn't at Olympia.

[@nancyM1313]

🏛❤thanks

[@veraxiana9993]

Proposal to call all statue enthusiasts "stoners". So that way we can say stoners tried to steal the statue of zeus 😂

[@gregmiller9710]

veni, vidi, subcribo

[@AdventurousJohn]

"can one statue really cause this much fuss?" - clearly if this is NOT a tongue in cheek reference to the fuss over the statue of david thats going on right now - you are not paying attention.

[@rolfrolf9176]

I used to work in Olympia and got the chance to work with the molds for the golden clothes of the statue, that gave me just a small glimpse into how magnificent that statue must have been back then

[@DigItWithRaven]

Oh wow what a fantastic job!! 😍

[@rolfrolf9176]

@@DigItWithRaven absolutely, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity. Great video btw, I'm really digging this series!