August 12: World Elephant Day

“A prostitute with too much make-up!” That’s how the Athenian aristocracy mocked the design of the architect-sculptor Pheidias for a new Athena-temple. But the common people liked it, as did the goddess herself, and Pheidias became a star. Never a good thing in Athen’s volatile political climate, and the aristocracy found a reason to have him exiled. In Olympia however, where the whole Greek world gathered every four years for athletic games in honour of Zeus, he was warmly welcomed. They got him the commission of his lifetime: a statue for the supreme god. Pheidias’ design consisted of a wooden frame, with carved ivory for the body and sheets of fine gold for the clothing, finished with gemstones. The sculpture was about the height of a 4 floor building, breathtaking in its craftsmanship, and very soon, ranked as one of the “wonders of the world”. Of course, ivory wasn’t the controversial material it is today (for all the right reasons), and Pheidias could proudly call out the technique for what it was: “gold-elephanty” or “chryselephantine”.

Phidias relief, Andrea Pisano, Cathedral of Firenze, Italy

Phidias, statue, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Did you know?

• The mythographer Hyginus (1st cent. AD?) lists the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”: Artemis’/Diana’s  temple in Ephese, Mausoleus’ tomb in Halikarnassos/Halicarnassus, the Kolossos/Colossus of Rhodes (cf. "Colossal"), the Zeus/Jupiter statue in Olympia, king Kyrous’/Cyrus’ house in Sicilian Ekbatana/Ecbatana, Semiramis’ walls in Babylon and the Egyptian pyramids.

• The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to “Athena Parthenos” or “virgin Athena/Minerva”, was built at the Athens Acropolis in the 5th cent. BC.

• There had been a joint temple for Zeus/Jupiter and Hera/Juno at Olympia since the 6th cent. BC. In the second quarter of the 5th cent. BC, a new temple for Zeus alone was erected, and the first one became a “Heraion”, a Hera-temple. The torch of the Olymplic flame is still lit in the ruins of the Heraion till today.