Asset number
190327001
Description
Marble relief (Block XXIII) from the South frieze of the Parthenon. The frieze shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival, the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena. Block XXIII survives as the representation of three horsemen. The riders of the tenth and leading group of the South Frieze wear a short tunic, belted at the waist, and animal skin boots with top flap. The foremost pair of horses seem to stand still, except for one hoof raised nervously. Metal reins, which are now lost, were inserted in drill-holes. A fragment preserving the head of the horse of the leading horseman is in the Acropolis Museum, Athens. For more information on the composition of riders see South frieze Block I. The horsemen of the South frieze are less well preserved than those of the North, and the composition is less varied. The explosion of the Parthenon in 1687 damaged the South frieze the most.
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