groups of two figures each in the ninety-two metopes or panels above
the outer row of columns; and, finally, the famous frieze that ran
completely round the temple itself, just below the ceiling of the
colonnade, and at a height of about thirty-nine feet from the floor.

The subject of the group that filled the eastern pediment, the one
above the entrance door of the temple, was the birth of Athena. Just
how the event was represented we do not know because quite half the
group, including the principal figures, disappeared very early in our
era, and no description of them remains in any ancient or modern
writer. The group in the western pediment represented the contest
between Athena and Poseidon for the dominion over Attica. According to
the legend, the strife between the two divinities took place in an
assembly of the gods on the Acropolis, who were to determine which of
the two contestants should be the protector of the city. To prove his
power, Poseidon struck the rock with his trident, and a salt spring
leaped forth, as if the sea itself had obeyed the call of its lord.
Athena struck the ground, and an olive-tree sprang up, the emblem of
peace and of the victories of commerce, and the assembly awarded the
prize to her. The goddess having thus received the sovereignty of
Athens, it was but natural that a day should be set apart for her
special honor, and a festival instituted to commemorate the great
event. This was the greater Panathenaia, or All Athenians Day, which
was celebrated every fourth year in honor of the goddess, and which,
as its name implies, was taken part in by all the people of the city.
It occurred in the early summer and lasted five days. On the fifth
day, it closed with a procession which went through all the chief
streets of the city and wound its way up the Great Stairway to the
Acropolis, bearing the _peplos_ or embroidered robe woven by young
virgin ladies of Athens, chosen from the highest families, and known
for their skill in this kind of work. After the _peplos_ had been
consecrated in the temple it was placed with due solemnities upon the
ancient and venerable figure of the goddess, made of olive-wood, and
said to have descended from heaven. From its subject, which thus
celebrates the Panathenaic procession, the frieze is often called the
Panathenaic frieze.

It is carved from Pentelic marble, of which material the marble
building is constructed. Its original length, running as it did