sentences:  Specifically, he was charged with shortchanging the amount of gold that was supposed to be used for the statue and keeping the extra for himself.It seems that the charge was politically motivated a result of his friendship with Pericles, who had many enemies in Athens.Phidias supposedly weighed the gold robe of the "Athena Parthenos" to prove his innocence, but was then accused of impiously portraying himself and Pericles on the shield of the statue, which was apparently true.