Sculpture of a horse's head
- Audio guide stop: 267
- Gallery: Room 18
- Maker: Pheidias
- Culture: Classical Greek
- Made in: Athens
- Date: 438BC-432BC
- Object type: statue, pediment
- Materials: marble
- Museum number: 1816,0610.98
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a marble sculpture from the East pediment of the Parthenon, part of "The Parthenon Sculptures." This piece shows the head of a horse, carefully carved with dramatic details: flattened ears, wide nostrils, and bulging eyes, capturing a sense of motion and vitality. Small holes mark where a metal bridle once attached, and eleven additional holes suggest metallic ornaments were once placed in its mane.
This horse was part of a group that pulled the chariot of Selene, goddess of the moon, or Nyx, goddess of night. The composition helped set the hour of the scene—in this case, nightfall. Two other horses and the goddess’s torso are in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Carved in Classical Greece around 438 to 432 BCE, the statue was designed by the artist Pheidias. Found on the Parthenon in Athens, it reflects the great artistic achievements of ancient Greek civilization.
See it in person
Sculpture of a horse's head is on display in Room 18 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 267, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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