The Temple of Zeus {Story} Ingles / English

 

 

The temple of Zeus, built for the Olympic games, was one of the greatest expressions of Greek art. To make the statue of Zeus, the most famous Athenian sculptor was hired: Phidias, the creator of the “chrysoelephantine” technique, which consists of chiseling the figure on ivory and covering it with gold.

In ancient Greece, during the games season, a sacred truce was maintained throughout the country. The winning athletes were crowned in the temple, at the foot of the statue of Zeus, which represented the god majestically seated on his throne.

The statue of Zeus was destroyed eight centuries after it was made.

The most famous artist in Greece was a sculptor named Phidias, born in the city of Athens. His works were so beautiful that, one day, the authorities decided to commission him to create a sculpture for the place where the Olympic Games would be held. The sculpture was to represent the image of Zeus, the father of all gods.

At that time, the Olympic games were not just a series of sports championships. They were considered, above all, a religious festival.

A few months before the Olympiad began, several messengers traveled to every corner of Greece to announce the exact date of the event. The festival took place in a small city called “Olympia”, which had been built exclusively to venerate the gods. The athletes who became champions had to give their trophies to Zeus.

That year's games were going to be very special, because they would be presided over by Zeus created by Phidias.

The athletes who represented each city felt proud to have been chosen.

One of them was Cratylus, who came from a distant town to compete in the 192-meter race. Like many others, he arrived in Athens well in advance, ready to devote himself to the intense moral training that the competition required.

To participate in these games it was not enough to have your body in excellent condition; The spirit also had to be prepared…

The temple of Zeus was at the foot of Mount Olympus, a mountain so high that the peak was always shrouded in clouds. From very ancient times it was said that Mount Olympus was the mansion of the gods, and that Zeus, the ruler of Heaven and Earth, ruled at its summit.

It was also said that Zeus liked to use three weapons to impose his will: storms, lightning and thunder...

Phidias loved that Zeus was so tempestuous. And he thought that the statue should be made with the purest and most difficult to obtain materials.

Then he asked the rulers to send him a good supply of ivory and gold. He received it satisfied and locked himself in her workshop to carry out the work. He wanted it to be the best statue of him, the testimony of his love for his country and for the greatest of the gods.…

Very close to Phidias' workshop was the gym where Cratylus trained. One afternoon when the athlete was passing by, he peeked through the window and was dazzled by the way Phidias sculpted.

He asked permission to come in and they immediately hit it off.

Talking, they realized that they were going to be excellent friends.

Cratylus spoke to Phidias about the nervousness and excitement he felt about representing his distant people in such an important competition. And he confessed that he wanted to win to bring joy to the place where he came from... he knew that the winners had a sacred crown of olive branches placed on their heads. And, upon returning, they asked them to enter through a hole dug in the wall of his hometown, which they then closed so that the triumph could not escape.

Phidias explained to Cratylus that, when he sculpted, he forgot everything. The heavy commitments that his life as a famous sculptor imposed on him were erased as he worked. And, in the end, he only had the happiness of creating, which nothing and no one could take away from him...

"It must be very similar to what a runner feels in the last meters, when he is close to winning the race," he commented.

Cratylus had enormous admiration for the artist's work. And he began to visit Phidias' workshop every day. He went for a little while in the morning and then in the afternoon, after training. He observed the enthusiasm with which Phidias sculpted, and sighed excitedly. He thought that perhaps it was Zeus who put his strength in the hands of Phidias. And he wished that the gods would give him similar power during the race.

Phidias was totally immersed in his work. All the impulses of his body and his intelligence were aimed at creating the figure of Zeus. He felt that his hands, when shaping the statue, were like lightning that passes through a stone and transforms it into light.

Every so often, Cratylus reminded him that he should interrupt his work at least to eat. And sometimes he convinced him to go out with him to enjoy the sun.…

As soon as he finished the statue, Phidias ran to the gymnasium to look for his friend and took him to the workshop to show him the work.

-This Zeus will be the most famous in history! -exclaimed Cratylus-. In your hands the distance between gods and humans is shortened.

Covered in dust, Phidias smiled. It was the best compliment anyone could give him…

The statue of Zeus was first displayed during the inauguration of the temple, a few days before the start of the games.

The work showed Zeus sitting on his throne. In his left hand he held a staff with an eagle perched on the top. And on the right rested a statuette covered in gold: it was a beautiful image of Athena, the favorite daughter of Zeus and the protective goddess of the city of Athens.

The artist watched with satisfaction the citizens who paraded before the statue, and enjoyed seeing their expressions of fascination. Suddenly, four soldiers entered the temple saying that they were looking for the sculptor Phidias. They found him and forcibly took him to the court. There he learned that he was accused of having stolen part of the gold that Greece had given him to make the statue.

Phidias felt very bad. It was horrible that they believed him capable of defrauding his god and his country. He had done his job with dedication and love. So he was tremendously offended by that slander.

"I am innocent," he said before the judges. And to demonstrate it, I propose the following: that the gold of the sculpture be weighed with a scale. That way you will see if something is missing...

The proposal was accepted. The next day they began to dismantle the sculpture to separate the parts that had gold. It took them several days to do the work.

Cratylus accompanied Phidias throughout the entire process. He composed poems for him that could never be written or recited, because they did not contain words. They were poems that he dreamed of and that he didn't remember very well when he woke up. He could only tell Phidias what little he knew about those dreams. But that was enough to cheer him up during the wait.

Finally, it was found that the gold in the statue weighed exactly what it should. This confirmed that Phidias was innocent. And they had to free him.

However, they didn't give him much time to get happy. The four soldiers returned a short time later with a new problem.

"Phidias," they told him, "the government of Greece accuses you of having sculpted your own face on the breastplate of the statue of Athena." It is unacceptable for a human to place himself at the level of the goddess... You are a great artist, but your lack of humility has exceeded the limits.

This time there was not even a trial. They took him directly to the dungeon. Cratylus continued to visit him twice a day, just as when he went to his workshop.

One day, Cratylus gave Phidias the olive crown he had obtained for winning the 192-meter race.

"This is the most valuable thing I have," he told her. And I want it to be yours from now on.…

That night, Phidias heard a strange noise in the lock of the dungeon. The door opened a crack and a ray of light entered with the force of a gust of wind. Where could that light come from at those hours? Puzzled, Phidias got out of bed and saw that the prison door was open. It was something very mysterious, but he couldn't begin to investigate how it had happened.

He knew that this was his only chance to escape and that he had to take advantage of it...

That morning, Phidias crossed the border of his homeland. If he stayed, they would look for him to imprison him again.…

Cratylus had not been wrong: his friend's works remained in history as the maximum expression of Greek beauty. However, Phidias was never able to return to his homeland. And he began to say that artists are always foreigners in his own land. He went to different places. He would settle in one city for a time and then leave for another. He spent the rest of his life wandering from region to region. And in every place he went, he remembered his friend.

Every night, before falling asleep, he recited the athlete's poems by heart. And that olive wreath was always his most precious treasure: the symbol of an indestructible friendship.

Phidias was left wondering whether it had been Zeus or Cratylus who opened the dungeon door that night. He would never have the answer. He knew that he would never see his friend or his statue again. And he regretted not having told Cratylus what he felt from the beginning: for him, the friendship that united them was even more sacred than the statue of Zeus.

 

END

 

2001 Republished by Paya Frank @ Blogger