10 s

South metope 27 from the Parthenon

Marble, 4'5 x 4'5

British Museum, London, c. 447-438 B.C.E.

Slide 40: Louvre metope
Parthenon_Metope_10_South_Louvre

Slide 41: Frieze section (image not found)

Slide 42: Parthenon West Frieze: 2 horsemen
[The Parthenon frieze was originally located within the pteroma at the top of the cella walls. It wrapped around the entire building and was 524 feet long. It is 3 feet, 3 inches high. Unlike the metopes, it is carved in very low relief, about 3 inches deep and slightly higher at the top for greater visibility. In its original situation, it was indirectly lit....]

The Parthenon frieze was originally located within the pteroma at the top of the cella walls. It wrapped around the entire building and was 524 feet long. It is 3 feet, 3 inches high. Unlike the metopes, it is carved in very low relief, about 3 inches deep and slightly higher at the top for greater visibility. In its original situation, it was indirectly lit. But, it appears to have been carved in situ since the composition takes into account the columns of the peristyle. The frieze was carved entirely out of Pentelic marble. The grain runs horizontally. Like the other Parthenon sculptures, the frieze was originally painted and the background was bright blue ! Today about 420 feet of the frieze survives. About 60 percent of it was removed by Lord Elgin and is presently located in the British Museum in London. Most of the rest of the frieze is in the Akropolis Museum in Athens, however, parts can also be found today in Paris, Rome, Palermo, Vienna, and Heidelberg. The subject of the frieze is a procession that starts at the southwestern corner of the building and wraps around both sides, meeting in the center of the east frieze on the front of the building. Most scholars believe that the frieze represents the Panathenaic procession, however, the details of this identification are very controversial...