BRITISH MUSEUM, Parthenon Marble High Reliefs

Now let me tell you about the Parthenon's exterior decorations, beginning with the so-called "metopes", which are the Doric-style high reliefs of the frieze that ran just below the facade's triangular pediment.

Originally there were 92 high reliefs, and here at the British Museum you'll see 15. They represent mythological battle scenes that are the symbol of the struggle between rational order and the dark powers of chaos, between man's ability to control and his primordial instincts: a conflict that had been overcome by the age of Pericles, the great politician and general who had the Parthenon built and decorated.

The high reliefs were made before the temple's other sculptural complexes, as you can infer from their more archaic style. It may also be that the various artists had difficulty adjusting to the new concepts devised by Phidias, who according to a well-known passage by the Greek historian and biographer Plutarch, "supervised everything".

Another fascinating masterpiece that you will see shortly is the bas relief frieze that was just beneath the ceiling on the exterior part of the Parthenon's rear cella: it ran along all four sides for a total length of about 160 meters and a height of about one meter. The British Museum has about half.

They depict the procession that was organized in Athens for the Panathenaic Games, a celebration that was held every four years to commemorate the city's founding; it was attended by magistrates, people bringing gifts, musicians, knights, and representatives of every class of the population. The procession departed from the Kerameikos district and went up to the Acropolis, bringing sacrificial victims and a precious votive garment that was specially embroidered with scenes from the myth of Athena....