Percy Gardner

“ Of the Zeus we have unfortunately lost all trace save small copies on coins of Elis, which give us but a general notion of the pose, and the character of the head. The god was seated on a throne, every part of which was used as a ground for sculptural decoration. ”

“ Of his life we know little apart from his works. Of his death we have two discrepant accounts. According to Plutarch he was made an object of attack by the political enemies of Pericles, and died in prison at Athens. According to Philochorus, as quoted by a scholiast on Aristophanes, he fled to Elis, where he made the great statue of Zeus for the Eleans, and was afterwards put to death by them. ”

“ His head was of somewhat archaic type: the Otricoli mask which used to be regarded as a copy of the head of the Olympian statue is certainly more than a century later in style. Of the Athena Parthenos two small copies in marble have been found at Athens (see Greek Art, fig. 38) which have no excellence of workmanship, but have a certain evidential value as to the treatment of their original.
It will be seen how very small is our actual knowledge of the works of Pheidias. There are many stately figures in the Roman and other museums which clearly belong to the same school as the Parthenos ”