The Parthenon Frieze

The Parthenon frieze, one of Western civilization’s major monuments, has been the subject of intense study for over two hundred years. Most scholarship has sought an overall interpretation of the monument’s iconography and therefore neglects the visual language of the sculpture, an essential tool for a full understanding of the narrative. Dr Jenifer Neils’s study provides an in-depth examination of the frieze which decodes its visual language, but also analyzes its conception and design, style and content, and impact on the visual arts over time. Unique in its wide-ranging approach, The Parthenon Frieze also brings ethical reasoning to bear on the issue of repatriation as part of the ongoing debate on the Elgin Marbles.

Author Biography

Dr. Jenifer Neils is Ruth Coutler Heede Professor of Art History at Case Western Reserve University, where she has taught since 1980. A scholar of Greek art and archaeology, she organized the exhibition “Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens” and edited the exhibition catalogue. Neils is also author of The Youthful Deeds of Theseus, the second Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present.