DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.803#0129
PHIDIAS AND HIS CPNTEMEOEARIES. 123
bears a-similar testimony*; and the remarkable fact,
recorded by Valerius Maximus, corroborates the belief
still further: he states, that the Minerva of the
Parthenon, if Phidias could have executed his own
intentions, would have been a marble statue; but
the Athenians themselves rejected his choice, and
insisted on having their Minerva of the more costly
material f.
A chryselephantine statue, which has not yet been
mentioned, raised Phidias's fame above all the sculps
tors of Greece: we allude to his statue at Elis ; in
the opinion of Greece and of succeeding ages, the
best of his productions |,
Athens had shown ingratitude not only to Pericles,
but to his friend and favourite artist; and, according
to some, Phidias withdrew privately to Elis. Seneca
mtimates that he went there by a compact with the
Athenians §. Certain it is that in the Altis, or grove,
as the word signifies, in the neighbourhood of Olympia,
he employed his industry in forming a statue which
surpassed his Minerva. This statue was in the
tetnple of the Altis. Jupiter was represented seated
uPon a throne, which, like the statue, was of ivory and
S°ld; he bore a crown upon his head in imitation of a
* " Non ex ebore tantum Phidias sciebat facere simulachra;
laciebat et ex aire. Si marmor illi, si adhuc vitiorem mate-
ria obtulisses, fecisset quale ex ilia fieri optimum potuisset.'*
be»eci, Epist. lxxxv.
t " Iidem Phidiam tulerunt, quamdiu is marmore potius quam
ebore Minervam fieri debere dicebat, quod diutius nitor esset
JJ'nsurus; sed ut adjecit et villus, tacere jusserunt." Yaler.
"as. lib. i.e. i. Externa, 7.
+ So Pliny, "Jovem Oljnnpium, quern nemo Eemulatur."—-
%• Hist. lib. xxxiv. c. 19. edit. Hardouin, p. 649. And again,
P-/-5, "Phidiam clarissimum esse per omnes gentes qutc Jovis
uljmpii famam intelligunt nemo dubitat."
§ "Elei ab Atheniensibus Phidiam acceperunt, ut is Jovem
ympiuni faceret, pacto iuterposito, ut aut Phidiam aul centum
"Ma reddere'nt." Seneca, Rhet.'ii. 8,
bears a-similar testimony*; and the remarkable fact,
recorded by Valerius Maximus, corroborates the belief
still further: he states, that the Minerva of the
Parthenon, if Phidias could have executed his own
intentions, would have been a marble statue; but
the Athenians themselves rejected his choice, and
insisted on having their Minerva of the more costly
material f.
A chryselephantine statue, which has not yet been
mentioned, raised Phidias's fame above all the sculps
tors of Greece: we allude to his statue at Elis ; in
the opinion of Greece and of succeeding ages, the
best of his productions |,
Athens had shown ingratitude not only to Pericles,
but to his friend and favourite artist; and, according
to some, Phidias withdrew privately to Elis. Seneca
mtimates that he went there by a compact with the
Athenians §. Certain it is that in the Altis, or grove,
as the word signifies, in the neighbourhood of Olympia,
he employed his industry in forming a statue which
surpassed his Minerva. This statue was in the
tetnple of the Altis. Jupiter was represented seated
uPon a throne, which, like the statue, was of ivory and
S°ld; he bore a crown upon his head in imitation of a
* " Non ex ebore tantum Phidias sciebat facere simulachra;
laciebat et ex aire. Si marmor illi, si adhuc vitiorem mate-
ria obtulisses, fecisset quale ex ilia fieri optimum potuisset.'*
be»eci, Epist. lxxxv.
t " Iidem Phidiam tulerunt, quamdiu is marmore potius quam
ebore Minervam fieri debere dicebat, quod diutius nitor esset
JJ'nsurus; sed ut adjecit et villus, tacere jusserunt." Yaler.
"as. lib. i.e. i. Externa, 7.
+ So Pliny, "Jovem Oljnnpium, quern nemo Eemulatur."—-
%• Hist. lib. xxxiv. c. 19. edit. Hardouin, p. 649. And again,
P-/-5, "Phidiam clarissimum esse per omnes gentes qutc Jovis
uljmpii famam intelligunt nemo dubitat."
§ "Elei ab Atheniensibus Phidiam acceperunt, ut is Jovem
ympiuni faceret, pacto iuterposito, ut aut Phidiam aul centum
"Ma reddere'nt." Seneca, Rhet.'ii. 8,