<P> Phidias is often credited as the main instigator of the Classical Greek sculptural design . Today, most critics and historians consider him one of the greatest of all ancient Greek sculptors . </P> <P> Although no original works exist that can be attributed to Phidias with certainty, numerous Roman copies of varying degrees of fidelity are known to exist . This is not uncommon . Almost all classical Greek paintings and sculptures have been destroyed, and only Roman copies or notes of them exist, like the passages of Plato that ascribe Phidias' works to him . The ancient Romans frequently copied and further developed Greek art . </P> <P> In antiquity Phidias was celebrated for his statues in bronze and his chryselephantine works (statues made of gold and ivory). In the Hippias Major, Plato claims that Phidias seldom, if ever, executed works in marble, though many of the sculptures of his time were executed in marble . Plutarch writes that he superintended the great works ordered by Pericles on the Acropolis . Ancient critics take a very high view of the merits of Phidias . What they especially praise is the ethos or permanent moral level of his works as compared with those of the later so called "pathetic" school . Both Pausanias and Plutarch mention works of his depicting the warlike Athena Areia . Demetrius calls his statues sublime, and at the same time precise . </P> <P> Of his life we know little apart from his works . His first commission created a group of national heroes with Miltiades as a central figure . </P>

Who are the architects the athenian acropolis and who was in charge of the sculptural program