The Parthenon frieze: a festive aesthetic

Abstract Since the early 19th century, the reception of the Parthenon frieze has enshrined its place among the canons of beauty in the modern Western world. This paper turns the question of beauty from the modern reception of the Parthenon frieze to its ancient manufacture and meaning. How, if at all, does the frieze relate to Classical Athenian notions of beauty? While many have linked the frieze to Athenian civic and political values, the relevance of Athenian aesthetic values for the frieze’s interpretation has been strangely neglected, despite their prominence in Classical Athenian texts. One area of life in Classical Athens in which ideas about beauty came to the fore was divine worship. The extensive textual evidence for beauty’s importance in Classical Athenian religion poses an untapped opportunity for looking at the Parthenon frieze in the light of Athenian religious and aesthetic attitudes. The paper argues that ideas about beauty were intrinsic to the frieze’s subject matter, formal execution, and the political and theological values it expressed.