All his tasks were accomplished. The whole story of the hero Hercules is intensely interesting. THE PHIDIAN JUPITER. Zeus--the Jupiter of the Romans--the chief, was the earliest of the national gods. The great place of his worship was at Olympia. Here was the magnificent statue of Jupiter, made by the famous Phidias. This statue was sixty-five feet high. The frame-work, of cedar and olive wood, was covered with ivory and gold. His throne was of cedar wood, inlaid with ivory and precious-stones. In his right hand he held a statue of victory, and in his left a sceptre surmounted by the eagle. The footstool was supported by sphinxes, and the throne was of cedar wood, inlaid with ivory, the ebony pedestal was covered with sculptured scenes of his life and adventures. Probably no idol of ancient or modern times exceeds this in its majestic, massive beauty. Neither ivory nor gold were plentiful in Greece, yet so devoted were the people that they provided the immense quantity for this idol readily. The gold plates were one-eighth of an inch thick, and were worth then over $600,000, equal to an immense sum in our days. At Olympia, as at the Isthmus of Corinth, games were held at the yearly religious festivals. From these games the apostle Paul derived many of the metaphors so frequent in his writings. [Illustration: IMAGE OF JUPITER, MADE BY THE CELEBRATED SCULPTOR, PHIDIAS.] GRECIAN TEMPLES AND WORSHIP OF PAUL’S DAY. Paul, the Christian Missionary, came into contact with the heathenism of both Greece and Rome. In Athens, Corinth and Ephesus especially he was brought face to face with idols and temples. The story of his visit to these places as told by Luke (Acts xvii., xviii. and xix.), and by Paul (in his letters to the Corinthians and Ephesians) presents a vivid picture of the condition of the Greek religion in its latest development. Soon the whole system was to lie in ruins, its temples were to be forsaken, its idols destroyed, its worship forgotten. This mighty change was to be produced by the power of God working through one weak man, belonging to what was everywhere regarded as a narrow-minded race, and without any backing of pomp, or power, or wealth. THE CITY CROWDED WITH IDOLS.