The Parthenon frieze
The Parthenon frieze, a unique work of art, is presented in digital form through this application. Photographs of all the frieze blocks preserved today in the Acropolis Museum, the British Museum and the Louvre have been gathered together and annotated in Greek and English. The photographs have been combined with the drawings of J. Carrey (1674) and J. Stuart (1751), in order to give the fullest possible picture of the frieze. This application upgrades the previous digital version.
About the frieze
The frieze of the Parthenon forms a continuous band with scenes in relief that encircles the upper part of the cella, the main temple, within the outer colonnade. The theme represented was the procession toward the Acropolis that took place during the Great Panathenaia, the festival in honour of the goddess Athena.
Of the entire frieze preserved today, 50 metres are in the Acropolis Museum, 80 metres in the British Museum, one block in the Louvre and several fragments are scattered in different European museums.
Explore the frieze
The frieze of the Parthenon is a continuous band with representations in relief that encircles the upper part of the cella, the main part of the temple within the outer colonnade. The theme represented was the procession to the Acropolis that formed part of the Great Panathenaia. The west side depicts the preparation for the procession. The long sides, North and South, depict the main procession with the groups of horsemen and chariots and the sacrificial procession of offerings and animals. On either end of the east side are the heads of the procession and in the middle the gods and goddesses and the main cult scene with the handing over of the peplos.
Select a frieze side on the model of the Parthenon to explore each block of the frieze.
West frieze
The west frieze depicts the preparation for the Panathenaic procession of the horsemen in the Kerameikos. Blocks with quiet scenes are interposed with those bearing scenes of action. The clothing of the horsemen is greatly varied, interpreted by some scholars as representative of the 10 or 4 tribes of Attica. Weapons and the horses’ bridle attachments were applied in bronze.
North frieze
The frieze is divided, part in the British Museum, part in the Acropolis museum. The scenes begin at the northwest corner of the opisthonaos as a continuation of the procession which has already started on the west side. The action develops gradually and from quiet preparation accelerates to a gallop. Even though they may have taken place at a another time or place, these scenes represent activities that were part of the festival of the Panathenaia.
South frieze
The south side of the frieze is preserved fragmentarily and the sculptured surface was badly damaged in the tremendous catastrophe suffered by the Parthenon in the explosion of 1687. This is why the sequence from block XX on is uncertain. Even so, the Carrey drawings show the representations on many of the missing sections and have enabled us to locate a number of existing fragments.
East frieze
The east frieze is comprised of nine blocks that are considerably longer than the blocks of the other sides. The surviving blocks and fragments are scattered among various museums. In contrast to the west frieze, the east frieze has a certain symmetry of composition, since it is the focal point of the processions of the other sides, culminating in the main cult scene with the handing over of the peplos.
Architecture and Sculpture
The Parthenon was the first and most important monument of the Periclean program on the Acropolis in classical times. It was a wondrous building because of its proportions and its excellent construction, but also because of the brilliant setting on the height of the Sacred Rock. A temple of Pentelic marble, Doric with Ionic features, it is unsurpassed not only in regard to its architecture and sculpture but also to the speed of construction.
Games
Εxplore the Parthenon frieze through the interactive games that invite young and older online visitors to get acquainted with this unique work of art.
