Parthenon Fact # 3
by admin on July 14, 2010

Built entirely of white Pentelic marble from Attica, the Parthenon has seventeen Doric columns on either side, eight Doric columns on either end and six in the inner row of each porch. Support for the roof was provided by an interior colonnade, though little of that remains today. Two chambers divided the temple: the cella to the east and the opisthodomos on the west end. The sculptor Phidias’ 12 meter high, gold and ivory statue of Athena stood in the cella. The treasures of the goddess and the city were stored in the opisthodomos.

Ninety-two high relief metopes surround the temple, thirty-two on each side, fourteen on each end. These sculptures depict scenes from Greek mythology and legend. A low relief frieze 160 meters long depicts the Panathenaic festival. Triangular pediments at either end contained statues in the round representing the birth of Athena and her contest with Poseidon for the land of Attica.

The Parthenon is considered to be the culmination of Greek sculpture, surpassing that of any other building of the classical age.