e lines from Homer:

"He said, and nodded with his shadowy brows,
Waved on the immortal head the ambrosial locks,
And all Olympus trembled at the nod."

[Illustration: FIG. 24.--COIN OF ELIS WITH THE OLYMPIAN ZEUS.]

The writings of the ancients have almost numberless references to this
statue, and its praise is unending. It was colossal in size and made of
ivory and gold, and one historian says that though the temple had great
height, yet the Jupiter was so large that if he had risen from his
throne he must have carried the roof away. It is related that when the
work was completed Phidias prayed to Jupiter to give him a sign from
heaven that he might know whether his work was pleasing to the great god
or not. This prayer was answered, and a flash of lightning came which
struck the pavement in front of the statue. This statue was reckoned
among the seven wonders of the world, and it is believed that the
magnificent bust called the "Jupiter Otricoli" is a copy from the
Olympian statue (Fig. 25).

[Illustration: FIG. 25.--BUST OF JUPITER FOUND AT OTRICOLI.]

I shall speak in another volume (upon Architecture) of the former glory
and the present ruin of the Parthenon at Athens, and tell how upon its
decoration Phidias lavished his thought and care until it surpassed in
beauty any other structure of which we have knowledge. Early in the
present century Lord Elgin, the English Ambassador to the Porte,
interested himself in having the sculptures found in the ruins taken to
England. In 1812 eighty chests containing these priceless works of the
greatest sculptor who ever lived were placed in Burlington House, and a
few years later Parliament purchased them for L35,000, and they were
placed in the British Museum, where they now are. There is a great
number of them, and all are of great interest; but I shall pass over the
metopes and the pediments, and shall pass to the frieze after speaking
of this one figure of Theseus, which is from the sculptures of the
eastern pediment. The sculptures upon this pediment represented the
story of the birth of Athena, and it was proper that Theseus should be
present, as he was king over Athens, of which city Athena, or Minerva,
was the protecting goddess. Torso is a term used in sculpture to denote
a mutilated figure, and many such remains of ancient sculpture exist
which are so beautiful, even in their ruin, that they are the pride of
the museums where they are, and serve as stud