The Parthenon Sculptures: metope
- Gallery: Room 18
- Maker: Pheidias
- Culture: Classical Greek
- Made in: Athens
- Date: 447BC-438BC
- Object type: metope
- Materials: marble
- Museum number: 1816,0610.15
- 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.
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About this object
This is a marble metope from the Parthenon, carved in Athens during the years 447 to 438 BC. The metope shows a dramatic moment from Greek mythology: a Centaur and a Lapith locked in fierce combat. Look closely—on the left stands the wild, half-human Centaur, while the Lapith, a human warrior, grabs the Centaur’s hair with one hand and prepares to strike with his other arm. The artist who designed this piece was Pheidias, one of the greatest sculptors of classical Greece.
These metopes once decorated the outside of the Parthenon and depicted a legendary battle between humans and mythical half-human, half-horse Centaurs at a wedding feast. Though some parts of this metope are missing—like the Centaur’s right arm and the Lapith’s left hand—what remains shows incredible precision and movement.
The scene echoes another nearby metope in the British Museum, offering a fascinating glimpse into how classical Greek artists told complex stories through stone.
See it in person
The Parthenon Sculptures: metope 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 take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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