Parthenon Frieze _ East VI, 43-46

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Four men, now badly mutilated, stand leaning on sticks, their original appearance better understood from an 18th century cast. They appear to form a distinct group set apart from the procession, a corresponding group of men standing on the other side of the gods, possibly heroes or civic dignitaries. The east frieze is comprised of eight or nine blocks, research having shown that VII and VIII formed a single block. These blocks are considerably longer than those of the other sides, with the middle block V measuring 4.50 m in length, while the corner blocks are narrow as they represent the ends of block I of the north frieze and block XLVII of the south frieze. The surviving blocks and fragments are scattered among various museums: blocks II and VI remain in the Acropolis, while blocks I, III-V, VIII are housed in the British Museum, with block VII located in the Louvre. Additionally, a number of fragments reside in the British Museum, and others can be found in the Archaeological Museum of Palermo. In contrast to the west frieze, the east frieze exhibits a certain symmetry of composition, serving as the focal point of the processions on the other sides. The Parthenon's frieze forms a continuous band with scenes in low relief that encircles the upper part of the cella within the outer colonnade. The theme represented was the procession toward the Acropolis during the Great Panathenaia, the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena. Numbering is taken from I. Jenkins' The Parthenon Frieze, 1994. Frieze slabs are marked in Roman numerals, while people are denoted by Arabic numerals.