The Parthenon in Athens, Greece, is one of the most famous architectural landmarks on earth. The building was erected on the Acropolis in the fifth century B.C. According to Fant and Reddish, “the cult statue of Athena stood in the east cella, surrounded by a colonnade of twenty-three columns and an entrance portico with six columns.”
Completed in 438 B.C.E. the statue of Athena was designed and constructed by Phidias himself. On its base it stood nearly 40 feet tall, supported by a massive post. The face and hands were of ivory. According to Thucydides, more than 40 talents of gold (approximately 250 lbs.) were used to plate the remainder of the enormous statue. These plates
were removable so that the weight of the gold could be checked
periodically. The goddess stood upon a large platform upon which the
Pandora myth was depicted. Her left hand rested upon her shield, her spear leaned against her left shoulder, and in her
right hand she held a small image of Nike. The statue eventually was carried off to
Constantinople and destroyed there in 1203 C.E. (Fant and Reddish, A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey, Oxford, 30-31)