What precious materials composed the Athena Parthenos statue?

The Athena Parthenos statue was composed primarily of gold and ivory. This combination made it a chryselephantine sculpture, a prestigious Greek technique reserved especially for major divine images.

A wooden framework, probably involving cypress, formed the statue’s internal structure. Thin ivory plates represented Athena’s exposed flesh, including her face, arms, and feet. Gold plates covered her garments, armour, hair, jewellery, and other details. Because the gold was applied in removable sections, it could theoretically be taken off and used as a financial reserve during a crisis.

The materials were not chosen merely for luxury. Ivory could imitate warm, living flesh, while polished gold caught and reflected light inside the temple. The effect would have been dramatically different from the bare white-marble appearance often imagined today. Some details may also have included coloured pigments, glass, and precious or semi-precious stones.

Gold and ivory are sometimes confused with marble because the surviving Parthenon sculptures are marble. Those sculptures decorated the building; the lost central image was a separate, much more lavish construction.