The use of ivory in art-work had preceded this many years. From the time of the Trojan war, they had used ivory arms and furniture; and two hundred years later we hear of Solomon introducing it in Judæa. “Once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks;” and being thus supplied with the elephants’ teeth of India, “the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.” One hundred years after Solomon, the sacred historian speaks of “the ivory house of King Ahab” as so wonderful, that it is enumerated in Chronicles with all the cities that he built. “The ivory house of Ahab,” and “the ivory palaces” of the forty-fifth psalm, no doubt referred to buildings profusely ornamented with ivory. Phidias, then, must have been familiar with ivory-work, having such illustrious examples in history; but none of his predecessors had attempted the stupendous works which rendered him famous. Unfortunately the creations of this celebrated artist were all destroyed, and we have only the descriptions left. When Greece fell, her oppressors, the Turks, a race of barbarians, destroyed all the grand works in marble they could find. For two or three hundred years, they pounded up the beautiful statues of the Parthenon to obtain lime to make their miserable hovels; and it is probably to them that is due the destruction of the works of chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statuary that were so celebrated, that almost every ancient writer described them. One was so richly ornamented with gold, that Pericles mentions it as one of the resources for carrying on the Peloponnesian war. The gold was stolen, and carried off by Leochares during the siege of Athens by Demetrius. The masterpiece of Phidias was the Jupiter of Olympia. “The god,” says Pausanias, “made of gold and ivory, is seated upon a throne. On his head is a crown, representing an olive-branch. In his right hand he carries a Victory, also of gold and ivory, holding a wreath, and having a crown upon her head. In the left hand of the god is a sceptre, shining with all sorts of metals. The bird placed upon the summit of the sceptre is an eagle. The sandals of the god are of gold, and his mantle is also golden. The figures of various animals, and of all sorts of flowers, particularly lilies, are painted upon it. The throne is a diversified assemblage of gold, of precious stones, of ivory, and of ebony, in which figures of all kinds are also painted or sculptured.”