The Parthenon’s frieze depicts 378 human figures.
This continuous Ionic-style relief once ran around the upper exterior of the temple’s inner chamber, or cella. Its subject is commonly understood as an idealized Panathenaic procession honoring Athena, although some scholars have proposed a mythological interpretation. The sculptors showed riders, chariots, musicians, attendants, sacrificial animals, and deities in a carefully ordered movement toward the eastern end.
The number 378 refers to human figures, not every figure represented in the relief. The frieze also includes 245 animals, chiefly horses and cattle, which is why totals can be confused. The complete frieze was about 160 meters long and approximately one meter high. Today, only about 128 meters survive; the missing portions are partly known from drawings made before major damage to the temple in 1687.