The Parthenon

Decoration

The sculptural programme for the Parthenon was under the direction of the sculptor Phidias. Every part of the temple that could be decorated was decorated with intricate, marble sculptures. This was remarkable.

Frieze

The Panathenaic Procession

View images of friezes from the Ancient Mediterranean Image Database.
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At the southwest corner of the building a procession begins and is divided into two streams: one starts at the SW corner, passes northwards along the west side to the northwest corner, rounds onto the north side, along the north side and onto the east side. The other stream starts also at the southwest corner but it heads directly east, passes along the south side and rounds onto the east side from the opposite direction. The elements of the procession, almost identical in each branch of it, are the following: horsemen at the rear, chariots in front of them, then men on foot--the elders, musicians carrying flutes and citharas (only on the north), young men bearing tablets (south), or hydria and trays, then victims for the sacrifice--sheep (north) and cattle (both). On the east front of the Parthenon the two branches converge and the head of each consists of women being received by officials. In the center of the frieze, over the main entrance to the temple a sacred garment is being handled and on each side of this scene is seated a group of Olympian gods and on either side of them stand what has generally been viewed as the Eponymous Heroes of the ten tribes of Attica = the handing over of the peplos for the cult statue of Athena in the presence of an assembly of deities.

In this long composition of advancing figures there is never any monotony, lively and quiet poses being effectively intermingled. The greatest variety in dress, age, posture, activity, and nature of animals etc. is achieved. What is most amazing is the skill in the suggestion of depth by overlapping figures yet with the slightest recession in planes, given the shallowness of the relief. One should take into account the tremendous skill with which, within the maximum depth of 2 and 1/4 inches the designer managed to suggest and the carver rendered plausible cavalcaded in which sometimes no fewer than seven horsemen are overlapping. Look at musculature of humans and animals, treatment of clothes.

Metopes

View images of metopes in the Ancient Mediterranean Image Database.
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There were 32 metopes on the north and south, 14 at east and west, 92 in all, likely completed by 442 BCE. They are 1.2 meters high. The figures on them are cut almost in the round, some only lightly attached to the background (carved, of course, in one piece with it), which seems to have been painted red. Some figures burst from their frame, and overhanging limbs are not uncommon, esp. in the vigorous groups of the south metopes, which are the better preserved. Consider the musculature, the twisting of the bodies, the ability to depict emotion, the rendering of drapery, etc. The figures seem to have been constructed from within, not carved from without.

The metopes all share the theme of conflict between the civilized and the barbarian, especially barbarians from the East (implicit in the Trojans and the Amazons). It is thus surely sensible to see the four sets as allegories of the victory of the Greeks over the Persians in 490 and 480/79, especially as the Athenians looked to the Persian Wars as a justification for their empire. According to their version of the events, by overcoming the barbarians, they had saved the Greeks on the mainland and in the Aegean and were entitled to whatever power, wealth, and influence they had gained.

Pediments

The sculptures on the pediments, which celebrate the founding of Athens and the importance of her patron goddess, were worked wholly in the round and finished at the back, a demonstration of artistic integrity or an indication that they were on display for a while before installation, or both. The depth of the pediment floor meant that some figures, even those reclining, could be angled out. This, with the variety of body angles, even for seated figures, and the readiness to let figures even overlap the frontal plane of the gable, mitigated the four-square frontality which is almost unavoidable in a shallower or less well designed pediment. The compositions are unusually crowded and show tremendous skill in rendering complex scenes.

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