Olympian Zeus
Preserved but no longer current.
Also seen as: Olympian Jove
A statue by Phidias, one of the "Seven Wonders of the World." Pausamas (vii, 2) says when the sculptor placed it in the temple at Olympia (433 B.C.), he prayed the god to indicate whether he was satisfied with it, and immediately a thunder- bolt fell on the floor of the temple without doing the slightest harm.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Olympian Zeus” mean?
A statue by Phidias, one of the "Seven Wonders of the World." Pausamas (vii, 2) says when the sculptor placed it in the temple at Olympia (433 B.C.), he prayed the god to indicate whether he was satisfied with it, and immediately a thunder- bolt fell on the floor of the temple without doing the slightest harm.
Is “Olympian Zeus” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.