Throughout its history, the Franklin Mint has been known for creating luxury versions of several chess sets, but none is more exquisite than their Chess Set of the Gods.  Designed by internationally acclaimed artist Stuart Mark Feldman, this set has a beutiful 21-inch square board with a marble-top playing surface, wooden base, and red-velvet lined interior with spaces specifically designed to hold the chess pieces

The chess set features playing pieces in porcelain with 24K gold accents depicting several Greek and Roman gods.  What's interesting is that the playing pieces have been paired up, with black pieces representing Roman gods and white pieces representing their Greek counterparts.  For example, Jupiter is magestic as the Roman King playing piece while Zeus commands the opposing set of white Greek pieces.  Even the rooks have been paired up, with each representing different architectural columns!  As shown below, each piece mentions the name of the God on the base. 

The pawns depict a Greek Griffin and a Roman Eagle:

Most of the pieces are about 5 inches tall (the rooks and pawns are slightly smaller at 3 1/2 inches in height) and can be purchased on E-Bay.  The quality and detail of these pieces is impeccable.   Even if you don't need these for a chess set, these majestic pieces can be proudly displayed as statuettes -- it's like having a miniature museum exhibit!  Though long sold out, you can from time to time find the full Franklin Mint Chess Set of the Gods set for sale on E-Bay, though the full set can be fairly expensive.