Phidias

, a celebrated statuary of Athens, who died B.C. 432. He made a statue of Minerva, at the request of Pericles, which was placed in the Pantheon. It was made with ivory and gold, and measured 39 feet in height. His presumption raised him many enemies, and he was accused of having carved his own image and that of Pericles on the shield of the statue of the godde , for which he was banished from Athens by the clamorous populace. He retired to Elis, where he determined to revenge the ill-treatment he had received from his countrymen, by making a statue which should eclipse the fame of that of Minerva. He was succe ful in the attempt; and the statue he made of Jupiter Olympius was always reckoned the best of all his pieces, and has pa ed for one of the wonders of the world. The people of Elis were so sensible of his merit, and of the honour he had done to their city, that they appointed his descendants to the honourable office of keeping clean that magnificent statue, and of preserving it from injury. Pausanias , bk. 9 , ch. 4 .— Cicero , On Oratory .— Strabo , bk. 8 .— Quintilian , bk. 12 , ch. 10 .— Plutarch , Pericles .