ist in Meno 91d, where he paralleled Socrates measuring the wealth of a philosopher, with the weighing of the gold from the Athena Parthenos. Plato describes Pheidias as a man “who made conspicuously fine works of art”#. Although seemingly vague, Spivey points to the words of Plato as evidence of the charges brought against Pheidias.In 421BC, the satirical play, Peace, written by Aristophanes debuted. The play, more propaganda than entertainment, was a direct protest against the Peloponnesian War. In the play, Pheidias, was the man that started the war. Perikles was embarrassed by the non-specific crimes committed by him, and in hopes of diverting the attention of Athenian citizens away from the relationship between the two, he starts a war that some believe would last for decades. It is important to note that this particular play was a satire. Spivey believes that because Peace dates within ten years of the death of Pheidias, and his name is mentioned specifically, at the very least, the play supports the “Pheidias legend”. At most, the play could be considered lightweight evidence of conspiracy and plotting amongst anti-Periklean government officials#. Now lost in time, Philochorus, wrote a detailed historical account of Athens in which he had given specific dates for important events in the life of Pheidias. Many scholars disregard his words as being tainted by both myth and personal bias. Philochorus dates both the dedication of the Athena Parthenos and Pheidias’ legal trouble at 438-437BC. He records that his imprisonment was not immediate and was not in Athens. He is the only known historian to record that Pheidias as escaping Athenian judicial authority and fleeing to Olympia. It was in Olympia, where he supervised the construction of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the massive chryselephantine (ivory and gold) statue of Zeus. According to Philochorus, shortly after the dedicati...
