This is a plaster cast of a section of the marble frieze on the north side of Athena’s temple, the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens. The youth and his spirited horse demonstrate the excitement of horsemen taking part in the sacred civic procession to the goddess.
The frieze, which was 160 metres long and ran around the temple’s cult room, showed Athenians participating in the great Panathenaic procession. Held every four years to commemorate Athena, the procession escorted a new peplos (robe) to the temple for dedication to her cult statue.
