Zeus sitting on his throne

Zeus enthroned is the most majestic representation of the king of the gods, the pose immortalised by Phidias in the lost gold-and-ivory Zeus at Olympia. Seated in calm authority, sceptre in one hand and the winged Nike in the other, the throne itself was said to depict the entire cosmic order — a single image that captured Greek civilisation's idea of supreme power as both serene and absolute.