Dome

Block E36-37: Athena sits looking in the direction of the procession (her right hand held a bronze spear) and sitting next to her is Hephaistos, the smith-god; "Elgin Marbles" is a popular term for the collection of sculpture from the Parthenon acquired by Lord Elgin in Athens between 1801-1805. The collection includes other works from the Acropolis as well. The Parthenon sculpture includes roughly half of what now survives: 247 feet of the original 524 feet of frieze; 15 of 92 metopes; 17 figures from the pediments, and various other pieces of architecture. The Parthenon Frieze is the low relief, pentelic marble sculpture created to adorn the upper part of the Parthenon’s naos. The iconography of the procession depicted is uncertain; it may be either the Greater Panathenaic procession from Eleusis to Athens, or may depict the founding myth of the city of Athens. As the files converge on the East frieze we encounter the first women celebrants E2-27, E50-51, E53-63. They carry the sacrificial instruments and paraphernalia. The next groups E18-23, E43-46, may represent the ten eponymous heroes who gave their names to the ten tribes. The procession culminates in twelve seated gods which are taken to be the Olympians. Source: British Museum [website]; http://www.britishmuseum.org (accessed 6/14/2009)