The Parthenon pediments were the largest that had even been carved in Hellas: 28.8 metres across by 3.4 metres high. The compositions are developed in such a way as to avoid looking too 'frontal', and to stress the third dimension. This was achieved by carving deep so as to create strong chiaroscuro; by making the ends of the compositions slightly asymmetric; and by placing certain figures slantwise or protruding a limb beyond the edge of the cornice.

The sculptures were still more sharply outlined in their deep pediment by the device of painting the background dark blue. The compositions' drive was focussed in the intensity and restlessness of the central figures: towards the ends the figures calm down.

The west pediment is the one that you see first as you come up to the Parthenon from the Propylaea. Its subject is the strife between the gods Athena and Poseidon over the city of Athens. Most of its figures have survived, if only in fragments. Despite their opposition, the figures of the two gods form a closed ensemble at the centre. Between them there probably stood an olive-tree cast in bronze. In Poseidon's chariot we can see Amphitrite and Iris, and in Athena's chariot, Hermes and what seems to be a Victory. On the left half-tympanum (kerkis) is King Cecrops, to act as judge or maybe witness of the contest. The other figures have been variously explained. Most scholars agree that they are figures from Athens' mythological past.

The subject of the east pediment is the birth of Athena. All that is left are the figures at the two ends, and a torso, usually identified with Poseidon. This makes reconstruction of the scene far from easy. The most generally accepted reconstitution is the so-called 'Bale' solution. In the centre was Zeus, with Athena to his left and Poseidon behind him. On his right stood Hera (or Hestia), with Hephaestus behind her. The two chariots proposed in this reconstitution do not seem to be essential: in one of them, hypothetically, would have been Ares and Iris, and in the other, Hermes and Amphitrite. Three female figures (identified as Eilythyia, and Demeter and Persephone) and one male figure (identified as Dionysus) survive on the right half-tympanum.

The horses that drew the chariot of the rising Sun have survived; at the left end is the setting chariot of the Moon. On the left half-tympanum is a regiment of three female figures (identified as Aphrodite, and Artemis and Leto).
The finials were compositions of leaves and acanthus shoots ending in palmettes: they survive fragmentarily.

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