  This work provides five explicit constructions of the exceptional Lie algebra
$\mathfrak{e}_8$, based on its semisimple subalgebras of maximal rank. Each of
these models is graded by an abelian group, namely, $\mathbb{Z}_4$,
$\mathbb{Z}_5$, $\mathbb{Z}_6$, $\mathbb{Z}_3^2$ and
$\mathbb{Z}_2\times\mathbb{Z}_4$; the neutral component is direct sum of
special linear algebras and the remaining homogeneous components are
irreducible modules for it.
