Each metope-panel of the Parthenon was 1.2 metres high and had a scene from mythology carved in relief. There were 92 panels in all (32 on the north and south fronts; 14 on the east and west fronts). From the technical aspect they cover every grading of style, from Severe to High Classical.

The pictures on the south front are of scenes from the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths at Peirithous' wedding. The fourteen central panels of the thirty-two are missing, and despite Carrey's sketches we have no clear idea what these showed. The Christians left the Centaur panels intact, possibly because the subject was one that could be interpreted as demonstrating the battle between Good and Evil. It is no longer fashionable to regard these panels as the remnants of an earlier Parthenon supposedly built by Cimon.

The pictures on the panels of the east front were until very recently still on the monument, but are now kept in the Museum. They are, so Apollodorus tells us, of scenes from the Gigantomachy. Unfortunately they are badly damaged, and all that we have to base a reconstruction on is the outlines of the figures. The composition is a 'closed' one. Gods are shown fighting with Giants, one-on-one. Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo are followed by chariots. The chariot of the Sun marks the final phase of the battle.

Only ten of the metope-panels on the north front survive. Their subject is the Fall of Troy. Since there are no scenes of violence, scholars have conjectured that these pictures were analogues of a painting by Polygnotus on the same subject (it was at the Lesche of the Cnidians, at Delphi). At its west end, gods (probably including Athena) can be seen discussing the fate of mortals. The cenrtal subject is framed by the chariot of the Sun and a female rider (either the Moon or Night).
The metope-panels on the west front have all survived but have been savagely truncated. They are regarded by nearly all scholars as showing a battle with the Amazons. On a different view, it is a battle between Greeks and Persians, but this does not square with the other subjects, which are all from mythology. Besides, the nub of all these mythological battle subjects - both the battles with Centaurs, Amazons, or Giants, and the Sack of Troy - is symbolic: Hellenes triumph over barbarians in general and Persians in particular. Moreover, battle with Centaurs and battle with Amazons are an item in the labours of Athens' national hero - Theseus.


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