Parthenon sculptures

Timeline

1. -447–-438Athenian Acropolis · AthensPericles promoted the rebuilding of the Acropolis; architects Ictinus and Callicrates designed the temple, and Phidias served as overall supervisor of sculpture, beginning the production of clay models and marble carvings for the pediments and frieze reliefs.
2. -438–-432Parthenon · AthensThe east and west pediments depicted respectively the birth of Athena and the contest of Athena and Poseidon; the frieze reliefs showed the Panathenaic procession; the cella housed Phidias's chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos, completing the paradigm of classical sculpture.
3. -432–1Athenian Acropolis · AthensAfter antiquity the temple suffered repeated damage from warfare, conversion into a church, and an explosion of an Ottoman gunpowder magazine; some reliefs were removed and dispersed abroad. As a paradigm of classical art, the sculptures continued to influence later ages through Roman copies and written records.