What is the length of the Parthenon's frieze in meters?
Answer
160 meters
Answer
160 meters
The Parthenon’s frieze was 160 meters long when complete.
Unlike the temple’s exterior Doric metopes, this continuous relief followed the upper wall of the cella in the Ionic tradition. Its extraordinary length allowed sculptors to create an unfolding procession, generally identified as the Panathenaic procession that honored Athena. The relief was carved in Pentelic marble and was about one meter high, with figures and animals advancing toward the eastern side.
The 160-meter measurement describes the original complete frieze, not the material visible today. About 128 meters survive, while the remainder is known partly through drawings made by Jacques Carrey in 1674. The temple suffered severe damage during the Venetian siege of Athens in 1687, when gunpowder stored inside the Parthenon exploded. Later removals and dispersal also explain why the sculpture is now divided among several collections.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026