skip to content

Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases

Parthenon, South Frieze

The layout of the south frieze is very similar to that of the north. Sixty horsemen are shown arranged in ten groups of six. In front of the horseriders were ten chariots, the first moving at speed; the ones nearer the front are being reined in because of the slower traffic ahead of them — elders, musicians, and the slow walking sacrificial oxen.

Unfortunately the south side of the Parthenon was one of the most seriously damaged parts when the temple was hit by a bomb during the war between the Venetians and Ottoman Turks in 1687. These two surviving slabs, though badly damaged and weathered, show two horsemen and two oxen. One slab is pictured

Number: 
140
Material: 
Pentelic marble
Location of Original: 

London, British Museum 327

Size: 
1.02 x 1.42m
Accession: 

Purchased in 1884 from Brucciani

References: 

Smith: Catalogue of British Museum Sculpture I (1892), 183-
Smith, AH: Sculpture of the Parthenon, pls. 79 & 90
Jenkins, I: Annual of the British School at Athens 1990, 85-114, esp.105

Date: 
c.442-438 BCE
Sculptor: 
Pheidias (and workshop of)
Provenance: 

Removed from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin

Search Casts

Use our search tools to search the Casts Archive

Museum of Classical Archaeology, Cambridge

Every cast tells two stories.
One ancient. One modern.

Admission is free.

We are open

Opening hours

Tues-Fri: 10am-5pm
Sat: 10am-1pm (Univ. term-time only)
Sun & Mon: Closed

Closed on Bank Holiday Mondays

Visit us

Museum of Classical Archaeology
Faculty of Classics
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge
CB3 9DA

Get in touch

Tel. +44 (0)1223 330402
Email

Facebook Twitter

For an explanation of what personal information we gather when you visit the University’s website and details of how that information is used please see the following University Privacy policy:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/about-this-site/privacy-policy

Copyright statement

All images and material on our websites are ©Museum of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge unless otherwise stated. Permission is required to reproduce our images.

See also our Copyright Notice and Take Down Policy.

Important Information

Museum of Classical Archaeology Web Accessibility Statement