STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA — PARAMETRIC GRASSHOPPER C# SCRIPT Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series | Wonder #3
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STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA — PARAMETRIC GRASSHOPPER C# SCRIPT
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series | Wonder #3
wickersonstudios.com
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PRODUCT TITLE
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Statue of Zeus at Olympia — Parametric Rhino/Grasshopper C# Script
(Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series — Script 3 of 7)
TAGLINE
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Raise Pheidias's colossal chryselephantine Zeus inside a full Doric temple
complex — 28 Levels of Detail, 20 material layers, export-ready for
Unreal Engine 5 Datasmith or FBX. The highest-LOD Wonder script yet.
SHORT DESCRIPTION
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A single Grasshopper C# Script component that procedurally builds the complete
Statue of Zeus at Olympia and its surrounding sanctuary. The script models
the Temple of Zeus (64 m Doric hexastyle, 34 columns), the chryselephantine
seated statue at 12.9 m, the Great Altar, Echo Stoa, Treasury row, Stadium,
Hippodrome, and the sacred Altis precinct — all as clean Brep NURBS geometry
organized into 20 material branches with one-click Rhino layer baking for
UE5 Datasmith / FBX export. No plugins required. LOD 1–28.
FULL DESCRIPTION
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The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was the greatest work of the sculptor Pheidias —
a 12.9-metre seated colossus of gold and ivory so overwhelming that the Roman
general Aemilius Paullus declared it captured the very divinity of the god.
This parametric script is your tool to build it at any level of detail, from a
single massing block to a fully resolved temple complex with individual roof
tile courses, throne decorative panels, colonnade interiors, and the entire
Altis sanctuary at the foot of Mount Kronos.
This is the most detailed script in the Seven Wonders series to date —
28 progressive Levels of Detail, from the global massing all the way down to
individual floor mosaic tiles, gold column capitals, 34 exterior Doric columns
with capitals and abacus, two sculptural pediment groups, roof tile course
strips, the circular Philippeion, the 780-metre Hippodrome, and 24 sacred
olive trees ringing the Altis precinct.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
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- One C# Script file (.cs) for Grasshopper in Rhino 6 / 7 / 8
- 28 progressive Levels of Detail (LOD 1–28) — the highest in the series
- 20-branch DataTree<Brep> output organized by material
- One-click Rhino layer baking with archaeologically accurate colour coding
- UE5 Datasmith / FBX export-ready layer naming (M_ prefix convention)
- Complete Olympia sanctuary complex (see geometry list below)
- CFG string parametric control — no scripting knowledge required
- Zero external plugin dependencies
- Extensive in-script archaeological notes citing Pausanias, Strabo,
Diodorus, and modern scholarship (excavation data from Curtius, Petrie)
GEOMETRY FEATURES BY LOD
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LOD 1 — Temple cella body: naos, pronaos, opisthodomos (solid massing)
LOD 2 — Krepidoma: 3-step platform (eupolemia) below stylobate
LOD 3 — Exterior colonnade: 34 Doric columns, hexastyle peripteral
(6 on E/W facades + 13 per N/S flank, corners shared)
LOD 4 — Zeus + throne combined massing block (placeholder volume)
LOD 5 — Column capitals: echinus disc + square abacus per column (34 × 2)
LOD 6 — Architrave (tripartite epistyle): 3-banded ring + fasciae strips
LOD 7 — Frieze zone: continuous ring + individual metope panels (painted)
+ triglyph blocks (south flank fully populated)
LOD 8 — Horizontal cornice + geison + mutules under every column bay
LOD 9 — East pediment tympanum (solid triangular prism, BuildPedimentTympanum)
+ chariot-race sculpture group (Zeus, Pelops, Oinomaos, river-gods)
LOD 10 — West pediment tympanum + Lapiths vs Centaurs sculptural group
(Apollo commanding, paired Centaur groups north and south)
LOD 11 — Roof: north + south sloped tile slabs (BuildOrientedBoxFrame),
ridge beam, interior cedar rafters, N/S sima gutters
LOD 12 — Throne detailed: seat, 4 legs, tall back, armrests, footstool,
reflecting oil-pool ring around throne base
LOD 13 — Zeus head (ivory sphere) + neck cylinder + olive-wreath crown ring
+ ivory beard mass
LOD 14 — Zeus lap + lower body (ivory) + gold drapery mantle panels
+ gold shoulder drape
LOD 15 — Zeus right arm (outstretched eastward) + Nike statuette:
cylinder body + sphere head + two gold wing slabs
LOD 16 — Zeus left arm + sceptre rod (bronze cylinder) + eagle:
sphere body + wing slabs
LOD 17 — Throne art panels: ivory painted backs, glass inlay on legs,
Niobe's-children frieze on footstool (6 panels)
LOD 18 — Interior cella colonnade: 2 × 7 two-tier Doric columns
flanking the nave left and right of Zeus
LOD 19 — Cella floor mosaic grid (16 × 10 alternating dark/light slabs)
LOD 20 — Temenos precinct wall (Altis boundary ring) + south propylon gate
LOD 21 — Great Altar of Zeus: 3-course stone base + ash-cone upper mound
+ prothysis (upper stepped altar)
LOD 22 — Treasury row: 12 miniature Doric treasury buildings on north
terrace, each with 2-column in-antis facade + pediment
LOD 23 — Echo Stoa: 34-column outer Doric colonnade + back wall + floor
LOD 24 — Stadium: N + S earth embankments, track surface, stone starting-sill
(balbis), vaulted western entrance tunnel (krypte)
LOD 25 — Individual terracotta roof tile course strips (20 per slope, N + S)
+ east/west/apex acroterion spheres
LOD 26 — Prytaneion (NW Altis, colonnaded dining hall)
+ Philippeion: circular Ionic monopteros (18-column round temple,
Philip II, c. 338 BCE) with conical roof
LOD 27 — Hippodrome: N + S embankments, 780 m track, starting gates
(aphesis), bronze turning posts (kampters) at each end
LOD 28 — Alpheios river context plane + Kladeos tributary
+ context ground plane + 24 sacred olive grove trees
(spherical canopy masses ringing the Altis)
MATERIAL LAYERS (20 branches)
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Branch 0 — M_Poros_Limestone lower krepidoma, cella walls
Branch 1 — M_Pentellic_Marble stylobate, columns, entablature, krepidoma
Branch 2 — M_Gold_Chryselephantine Zeus's gold garments, throne gold panels
Branch 3 — M_Ivory_Chryselephantine Zeus's flesh — head, arms, lower body
Branch 4 — M_Ebony_Wood throne frame, dark panel inlays
Branch 5 — M_Cedar_Timber roof rafters, interior ceiling beams
Branch 6 — M_Terracotta_Tile Lakonian pan + cover tiles, sima gutter
Branch 7 — M_Bronze_Element temple doors, altar fence, fittings
Branch 8 — M_Painted_Stucco metope panels, pediment background
Branch 9 — M_Glass_Inlay throne precious-stone / glass inlay
Branch 10 — M_Altar_Limestone Great Altar stone base + ash cone
Branch 11 — M_Temenos_Wall Altis boundary wall (polygonal stone)
Branch 12 — M_Stadium_Earth stadium embankments and track
Branch 13 — M_Context_Ground Alpheios valley + olive grove trees
Branch 14 — M_Treasury_Stone treasury buildings (varied stones)
Branch 15 — M_Stoa_Marble Echo Stoa colonnade and floor
Branch 16 — M_Nike_Figure Nike statuette in Zeus's right hand
Branch 17 — M_Bronze_Eagle bronze eagle + sceptre rod
Branch 18 — M_Interior_Floor cella dark-stone floor mosaic
Branch 19 — M_Hippodrome hippodrome track + starting gates
KEY PARAMETRIC CONTROLS (CFG string)
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All units millimetres. Pass semicolon-delimited key=value pairs.
lod=28 Level of Detail (1–28)
temple_half_long=32060 Temple E-W half-length [64.12 m]
temple_half_short=13840 Temple N-S half-width [27.68 m]
col_radius=1125 Column shaft radius [2.25 m diameter]
col_height=10430 Column shaft height [10.43 m]
col_padding=2500 Corner column inset from stylobate edge
echinus_height=850 Doric echinus capital height
architrave_height=1580 Architrave (epistyle) height
frieze_height=1400 Frieze zone height
cornice_height=700 Horizontal cornice height
cornice_proj=900 Cornice projection beyond column face
krepi_step_h=600 Krepidoma step height (3 steps = 1800 mm)
krepi_step_d=850 Krepidoma step depth (horizontal)
pediment_rise=3500 Pediment ridge height above cornice
tile_thickness=280 Terracotta roof tile depth
statue_x=-8000 Zeus statue E-W offset from centre (mm)
throne_w=6600 Throne E-W width
throne_d=5800 Throne N-S depth
throne_leg_h=2800 Throne seat height
throne_back_h=10000 Full throne back height
zeus_head_r=1200 Zeus head sphere radius
nike_h=1900 Nike statuette height
sceptre_h=7200 Sceptre rod height
temenos_half_ew=110000 Altis precinct E-W half-dimension
temenos_half_ns=90000 Altis precinct N-S half-dimension
altar_x=40000 Great Altar of Zeus X offset east
altar_base_r=15000 Altar lower stone base radius
altar_total_h=6500 Total altar height
stadium_len=213000 Stadium track length [192 m = 1 stadion]
hippo_len=780000 Hippodrome total length [780 m]
Example CFG strings:
lod=12;statue_x=-10000;zeus_head_r=1400
lod=20;temple_half_long=32060;col_height=10430
lod=28;altar_base_r=18000;stadium_len=213000
WHAT MAKES THIS SCRIPT UNIQUE
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+ BuildPedimentTympanum() — a new dedicated helper method that creates
a proper 5-faced triangular prism solid (south slope + north slope +
base + front + back) using Brep.CreatePlanarBreps + JoinBreps.
Each pediment tympanum is a fully watertight closed solid.
+ Chryselephantine statue hierarchy — Zeus is built from 12 separate
Brep components across 4 LOD levels (12–16), each on a distinct
material branch: ivory flesh, gold garments, ebony throne, bronze eagle.
+ Interior two-tier colonnade (LOD 18) — the unique feature of the
Temple of Zeus: two rows of smaller Doric columns inside the cella,
stacked in two tiers to reach the ceiling height, flanking the statue.
+ 20-course roof tile strips (LOD 25) using BuildOrientedBoxFrame with
the correct slope vector — each strip is a proper tilted NURBS Brep
oriented precisely along the 13° roof slope.
+ Philippeion round temple (LOD 26) — the only circular building in the
Altis, built by Philip II of Macedon, modelled as an 18-column Ionic
monopteros with conical tile roof.
ARCHITECTURAL ACCURACY NOTES
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- Temple dimensions from Curtius & Adler (Olympia survey, 1875) and
Petrie (confirmed 1892): stylobate 27,680 × 64,120 mm.
- Column proportions: bottom diameter 2,250 mm, height 10,430 mm
(ratio 1:4.64 — notably squat for a Classical Doric temple).
- East pediment source: Pausanias (Description of Greece, 5.10.6–8):
Zeus at centre, Pelops and Oinomaos with their chariots to either side,
Alpheios and Kladeos reclining at the corners. 21 figures total.
- West pediment: Lapith-Centaur battle at the wedding of Peirithoos.
Apollo stands at the centre with outstretched arm. 21 figures total.
- Pheidias's statue: described by Pausanias (5.11.1–9) in forensic detail.
Head of Zeus nearly touched the coffered cedar ceiling. Right hand held
a Nike figure of ivory and gold, approximately 1.8 m tall. Left hand
held a sceptre "of every kind of metal" topped with a golden eagle.
- The throne was inlaid with ebony, ivory, gold, glass, and precious
stones. Painted panels (Niobe's children, Amazonomachy, Theseus
battles) were attributed to Panainos, Pheidias's nephew.
- Zeus's flesh was ivory panels; his cloak and sandals were hammered
gold sheets over a wooden core; a shallow oil pool at his feet
maintained the ivory's moisture and provided reflective uplighting.
- Great Altar of Zeus: described by Pausanias (5.13.8) as 37 feet
(~11 m) high, built from the ash of sacrificed oxen bound with
Alpheios river water. The model uses an archaeologically calibrated
6.5 m height as the excavated remains suggest.
- Stadium: track length 192.27 m (one Olympian stadion). Started c. 550 BCE.
The vaulted entrance tunnel (krypte embolos) dates to c. 300 BCE.
- Philippeion: circular Ionic monopteros begun by Philip II after the
Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE), completed by Alexander the Great.
18 Ionic columns on a stepped krepidoma, 15.24 m diameter.
HOW TO USE
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1. Open Rhino → launch Grasshopper (type Grasshopper or Ctrl+Shift+G)
2. Double-click the canvas → search "C# Script" → place component
3. Double-click the C# Script component → open code editor
4. Select all existing code → replace with contents of this .cs file
5. Click OK / close editor
6. Connect inputs:
CFG (String) — leave empty for defaults, or wire a Panel
Bake (Boolean) — True to bake all geometry to Rhino layers
7. Connect output:
Geometry (DataTree<Brep>) → custom preview or Brep Param
BAKING TO RHINO LAYERS
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Toggle Bake = True. The script creates parent layer "ZeusOlympia"
(warm gold colour) with 20 child material layers, each colour-coded:
- Marble: near-white - Gold: bright gold
- Ivory: pale cream - Ebony: near-black
- Terracotta: deep red-orange - Bronze: patinated green-brown
- Glass inlay: deep blue - Altar: warm limestone grey
All layers are immediately ready for Datasmith export or FBX by layer.
EXPORT TO UNREAL ENGINE 5
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Via Datasmith (recommended):
File > Export > Datasmith (.udatasmith)
Layers → UE5 static mesh actors, material slots named M_*
Via FBX:
File > Export Selected → FBX 2019
"Export object layers as groups" → Import UE5 with matching M_ names
COMPATIBILITY
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Rhino version: 6, 7, 8 (Windows and Mac)
Grasshopper: Built-in
External plugins: None required
.NET: 4.8 (Rhino 7/8) / 4.5 (Rhino 6)
UE5 Datasmith: 5.0 – 5.5
SERIES CONTEXT — SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
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1. Great Pyramid of Giza [available — wickersonstudios.com]
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon [available — wickersonstudios.com]
3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia [THIS SCRIPT]
4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus [coming soon]
5. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [coming soon]
6. Colossus of Rhodes [coming soon]
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria [coming soon]
Also available: Colosseum Parametric Script (Parametric Monument Series #1)
Bundle the full Seven Wonders series at wickersonstudios.com for savings.
WHY WICKERSON STUDIOS
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+ Historically sourced from primary texts and excavation reports
+ Clean NURBS Brep — no meshes, no SubD, no external plugins
+ Material-organized DataTree matching UE5 Datasmith conventions
+ Fully parametric via CFG — dial in any scholarly interpretation
+ One-click Rhino baking for team pipelines
+ Detailed in-script architectural notes for educators and researchers
+ Growing series — each script raises the LOD ceiling
SUPPORT
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For setup help, CFG guidance, UE5 integration, or custom dimension
requests, visit wickersonstudios.com.
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© 2026 Wickerson Studios — Statue of Zeus at Olympia Script v1.0
wickersonstudios.com
For personal, commercial, and educational use. No redistribution for resale.
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