Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/402

 388 PHIDIAS PHILADELPHIA buckler, the helmet, and other accessories were of solid gold, adorned with devices and elabo- rately engraved with subjects taken from Athe- nian legends. No expense was spared by the Athenians to make this statue worthy of the shrine in which it was enclosed; and it is said that when the sculptor intimated his desire to execute it in marble, they directed him to employ those materials which were the most costly. The weight of the gold has been estimated at between 40 and 50 talents, or about $50,000. It was removed from the statue by Lachares in the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes, about 296 B. 0. Previous to the time ^f Phidias, colossal statues when not of bronze were acroliths, the head, hands, and feet being of .marble, while the body was of wood, concealed by real drapery; and the sub- stitution of ivory and gold for these materials is believed to have been his invention. Sup- posed copies of the statue are in existence, and restorations have been attempted by Quatre- mere de Quincy and others. The architectural sculptures in marble of the Parthenon have generally been ascribed to Phidias, but that opinion is controverted by W. W. Story, in " Blackwood's Magazine " for December, 1873. (See ELGIN MARBLES.) The Athena was fin- ished in 438, and, with the Parthenon, was dedicated in the same year. Shortly after- ward, at the invitation of the Eleans, Phidias commenced at Olympia the colossal chrysel- ephantine statue of Jupiter, his masterpiece. The god was represented as seated upon a throne of cedar wood, holding in one hand an ivory and gold statue of Victory and in the other a sceptre, with his feet supported by a footstool, which, as well as every part of the throne, and its base, was elaborately adorned with gold, ivory, ebony, and gems, with en- chased work and paintings, with sculptures of precious metals, and with numerous accessory groups and bass reliefs. The statue was near- ly 60 ft. high, and occupied Phidias and his assistants, among whom were Oolotes and Al- camenes, sculptors,' and Panaenus the painter, between four and five years, from 437 prob- ably to 433. It was removed by the emperor Theodosius I. to Constantinople, where it per- ished by fire in A. D. 475. Restorations of it have been attempted by Quatremre de Quin- cy and Flaxman. On the completion of the statue Phidias returned to Athens, where a for- midable party was aiming at the 'overthrow of Pericles. Fearing to attack the great Athe- nian statesman directly, his enemies sought to undermine his influence by persecuting his friends ; and Phidias was accused by one Me- non, a workman employed upon the Parthe- non, of stealing a portion of the gold appro- priated to the colossal statue of Athena. As the gold had been affixed to the statue in such a manner that it could be removed, the accusers were challenged to substantiate their charge by weighing it, which they shrank from doing. Another charge was then made against the sculptor of having introduced portraits of himself and Pericles in 'the bass reliefs of the shield representing the battle of the Amazons. As this act was supposed to imply a dishonor to the national religion, he was thrown into prison, where, according to Plutarch, he died. In addition to the works mentioned, Phidias executed statues of deities for Athens and other cities of Greece, including an acrolithic Athena at Plataea, and a famous chryselephan- tine JEsculapius at Epidaurus. PHIGALJA, or Phialia, an ancient town of Ar- cadia, near the borders of Messenia and Elis, on the right bank of the river Neda, of which ruins still exist near the modern village of Pao- litza. Its celebrity is due to the temple, built by Ictinus, on Mt. Cotylion, about 6 m. N. E. of the city, dedicated to Apollo Epicurius, and called by Pausanias the most beautiful in the Peloponnesus except that at Tegea. Its ruins were explored in 1812, and the entire sculp- tured frieze of the cella, known as the Phi- galian marbles, was brought from it for the British museum in 1814. PHILADELPHIA (Gr. Qdadttyeta, brotherly love). I. An ancient town of Lydia, on the site of the present Ala-Shehr, 27 m. E. S. E. of Sardis. It was founded by Attains Phila- delphus of Pergamus, on the lower slopes of Mt. Tmolus (now Boz Dagh), 952 ft. above the sea. The region is volcanic and was subject to frequent earthquakes. It seems to have been the depot of the great wine district around it, and in spite of its unsafe situation it con- tinued to flourish, as attested by the book of Revelation. The outer wall of the town is still standing, with the exception of a few small portions of which only traces remain. To the southwest, on the brow of the hill, about 400 ft. above the town, were the acropo- lis, theatre, and stadium. Its numerous tem- ples gave Philadelphia in ancient times the epithet of "Little Athens," but only the ruins of a single small temple are now visible. The ground of the S. E. portion of the town is now considerably higher than formerly, and blocks of marble and numerous coins have been un- covered by digging 15 ft. below the surface. The original inhabitants seem to have been Macedonians, and they retained their national character to the time of Pliny. In the begin- ning of our era there appear to have been there a synagogue of Hellenizing Jews and a Christian church. (See ALA-SHEHR.) II. An ancient town of Palestine, E. of the Jordan, originally Rabbath-Ammon, the chief city of the Ammonites, and now called Amman, 52 m. E. N. E. of Jerusalem. The Ammonites at first lived at peace with their neighbors, but in the time of Saul began their inroads upon the territory of the Hebrews. David's retaliatory campaigns against them resulted in the devastation of their land, and compelled them to seek refuge within the walls of their only stronghold. The siege of the town is cal- culated to have lasted nearly two years. The