PHID'IAS, or PHEI'DIAS (Lat., from Gk. The greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, born in Attica, probably between S(a) and 490 n.e., the son of Charmides. His master seems to have been the Athenian Hegias. famous for his statues of divinities. and some late authorities also connect him with the Argive Haeelaidas: but both these statements have been questioned, and m general the information as to his life is scanty and often contradictory. Interest in the lives of the great artists arose comparatively late. when accurate information was scarcely tainable. For our knowledge of his we are on the statements of ancient writers.
as no certain original from his hand has survived. The descriptions, however, warrant the assign ment to him of the originals from which several marbles were copied, and to his de-ign, are prob ably due the Parthenon sculptures, though none of them can with certainty be attributed to his hand. The unanimous testimony of the an cients and the evidence of the monument, mark him as the typical artist of the best culture of Greece. His genius found the soil for its ripest expression in the Athens of Pericles, and his works stand with the tragedies of Sophocles as the most perfect expression of the spirit of the noblest period of Greek civilization. Noble ideals and a thorough mastery of technique enabled him beyond any other ancient artist to present beauty in its purity and completeness. In his work; we find incorporated the desire of Greek art to reproduce the ideal beauty which lies behind the realities of nature, and which while holding fast to truthful expression seeks to show forth the typical and permanent element, rather than the individual and transitory. This endeavor to express the sublime ideal, formed within the soul was recognized by the ancients as the source from which came the inspiration for the col ossal statue of Zeus at Olympia, which the artist was said to have drawn from Homer (Iliad, i..529), and which seemed to incorporate the divine majesty. power, and loving kindness. In all the branches of sculpture we find Phidias celebrated. In bronze were wrought the Athena of the Lemnian,, probably represented in a statue at Dresden and a head at Bologna, and the colossal Athena sometime, called the l'roniacho-, which ancient tradition at any rate attributed to him; in marble, an Aphrodite in Athens, and the face, hands, and feet of an Athena at Plat ea, whose drapery was of gilded wood, thus forming a cheap substitute for the chry-elephantine tech nique in which he attained his greatest fame. His earliest work in this style was an Athena at Pellene in Achrea, hut his most celebrated were the Zeus at Olympia and the Athena of the Parthenon. In this style a core of wood was overlaid with ivory to represent the flesh, and gold, often inlaid with enamel, fur drapery. On the Parthenos the gold was detachable and valued at 44 talents. The Zeus at Olympia represented
the god seated on his throne, on his head a wreath of olive, in his left band the sceptre crowned with an eagle, while on hi, extended right stood a Nike (Victory) holding a fillet. The throne was elaborately decorated with figure; in relief and in the round. Our only knowledge of this statue is from descriptions and repre sentation, on late coins of Elis, which are, of course. far too small to give any satisfactory idea of its appearance. It may ire added that the so-called Zeus Otricoli of the Vatican is certainly not Phidian, The Athena Parthenos was a standing figure. In her left handl the goddess held her lance and at her left side stood the shield. The extended right hand al-o held a Nike, and was perhaps supported by a pillar. Here. too. the shield, the pedestal. the helmet, and even the soles of the sandal- were decorated with scenes front Grecian legend. This statue was erected in B.C. 43S. and if Phidias supervised the decorations of the Parthenon be must have worked in Athens from about n.c. 447 to 433, for the building was not completed before this date.
The chronology and events of the closing years of his life are much disputed and the ancient testimony is conflicting. All accounts agree that he was tried at Athens for embezzling the gold appropriated for the statue; but, while one ac count says he died in prison. another says he was banished, went to Elis, made the Zeus. and was then accused and put to death by the Eieans. This last can scarcely be right, as we know his descendants enjoyed hereditary honors at I )Iym pin. The mo-t probable theory is perhaps that the statue of Zeus was made just after the middle of the fifth century B.C.. and that after that the artist remained in Athens. It may be regarded as certain that he shared in the attack on the friends of Pericles. and the account may be true that, while acquitted of the charge of embezzlement, he was condemned for impiety in introducing his portrait on the shield of the Parthenos. Many competent arclueologists. how ever, prefer to date the Zeus later than the Parthenos. In addition to the histories of Greek sculpture cited under GREEK ART. enn-Ult: Muller, be Phiditr Cita Operibus It;i4t.ingen.
Petersen. the Kunst (Ifs Pheidias I Berlin, IS 3): Collignon, Phidias (Paris, I ssif) : Wahl stein, Essays on thy Art of Phcidias i Cambridge and New York. 1853) : Furtwiingler. r pieces of Greek Sculpture, trans. by E. sellers (London and New York. ISM), of great value for the attribution of extant marbles to Phidian originals, but to be used with caution: Phidi,/,; in in Art Serie," Bo-ton, 19021, with good bibliography. For the death of Phidias. see, in addition: Loescheke, "Phidias' in His.
torisehe Untersurhuny, (Bonn, `-ehral, "Der Prozess des Phidias." in Sitz..unystrfriehto r Miinchencr Akademie Ohmich, Isss