The Statue of Zeus was once considered the most powerful image ever created by the ancient world... It stood nearly 43ft tall inside the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, built around 435 BC, by the master sculptor Phidias. Unlike most monuments carved in stone, this statue was made from gold and ivory stretched over a wooden core. In torchlight, ancient visitors said Zeus seemed alive, his face glowing in the dark. For centuries, people traveled across the Mediterranean just to see it. Then it vanished. By the late Roman period, pagan temples were closed and worship of Zeus had ended. Later Byzantine writers claim the statue was taken to Constantinople and placed in a palace collection of famous ancient artworks. One record says it was destroyed in a palace fire in 475 AD. No contemporary Roman record confirms it was ever moved. No archaeological remains have ever been found. And no reliable eyewitness account describes its final moments. One of the most famous statues in human history disappears… without a trace. Was it destroyed at Olympia? Was it secretly moved? Or was it lost in chaos as the ancient world collapsed into the medieval one? #drthehistories