The British Museum has 17 pedimental figures from the Parthenon. These sculptures originally formed part of the east and west triangular gables of the temple on the Acropolis in Athens.
The pediments contained roughly 50 marble figures in total. The east pediment depicted the birth of Athena, while the west pediment showed Athena's contest with Poseidon for control of Athens. The surviving sculptures include gods, mythological figures, charioteers, and reclining river deities, although many identities remain uncertain because the figures are damaged or incomplete.
The British Museum's 17 figures are part of the collection commonly called the Parthenon Sculptures or Elgin Marbles. They were removed from Athens in the early nineteenth century by agents working for Thomas Bruce, Lord Elgin, when the city was under Ottoman rule. The collection also includes 15 metopes and about 75 meters of the original frieze. The ownership and reunification of these works remain the subject of a long-running dispute between Greece and the British Museum.