The Greek sculptor Phidias (active ca. 475-425 BC), the dominant artistic figure of the 5th century, was best known for two chryselephantine cult statues, the "Athena Parthenos" in the Parthenon, Athens, and the "Zeus" in the Temple of Zeus, Olympia. He also supervised the construction and sculptural adornment of the Parthenon.

Literary sources for the life and career of Phidias, while often anecdotal in nature, are unusually abundant; among the most important are Plutarch, in Life of Perikles, and Pausanias, the latter with eyewitness descriptions of the colossal chryselephantine (gold and ivory) cult statues. Pliny the Elder, in Natural History, alludes to the 83d Olympiad (448-444 B.C.) as the time of Phidias's greatest activity. While his major commissions were done at Athens and Olympia, he also executed statuary at Delphi, Plataea, Thebes, and Pallene in Achaea. Phidias was unusually versatile, being renowned as a sculptor not only...