PHIDIAS, a celebrated Greek statuary, was the son of Charmidas, a native of Athens, and flourished B. C. 444, in the age of Pericles, being the contemporary of Alcamenes, Critias, Hegias, and Nestocles. In his representations of the gods he was so successful that it was said he must either have visited heaven, or the gods must have descended to him. (Analect. Bruck. vol. ii. p. 225.) One of the finest of his works was his statue of Jupiter Olympius, in the temple of Olympia. It was made of ivory and gold, and was of such colossal size, that being seated, it appeared, that if it rose up, it could carry away the roof. Being asked by his brother Panæus what model he had followed in his representation of the god, Phidias referred him to the portrait of Jupiter given by Homer (Iliad. i. 528-530). His statue of Minerva at Athens was also very much admired, and the shield of the goddess presented a fine specimen of bas-relief. Along the edge was sculptured
the battle of the Amazons, and in the hollow part the battle of the gods and giants. (Strab. viii. 353; Plin. xxxvi. 4, 7; Paus. v. 10, 2; Quint. xii. 10, 1; Val. Max. iii. 7, 4. In the time of Pliny, there was a Venus by him, in the portico of Octavia; and at present there is a magnificent colossal statue of a man curbing a fiery steed, placed before the palace of the Vatican at Rome, which is inscribed with the name of Phidias, but the group has no right to be considered as his production. Phidias was the teacher of Alcamenes, Agoracritus, and Colotes. (Plin. xxxiv. 19, 1-5, xxxv. 34, 1.)