Statue of Zeus at Olympia. The huge figure of Zeus the Thunder, King of the Gods, stood in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia in Greece. It was the work of the great sculptor Phidias, who completed it about 456 B.C. These statue rose to a height of 40 feet and almost touched the lofty temple ceiling. It was chryselephantine - fashioned of thin plates of gold and ivory, covering a wooden form. the piercing eyes were made of two large jewels, and precious stones adorned the golden robes. The statue was moved to Constantinople in the 5th century A.D. and was destroyed by the fire about 475. Today visitors to Olympia, where the first Olympic Games were held, see only the foundations of the building in which it stood. But Phidias' workshop has been discovered nearby.