Parthenon Frieze Essay

There is one issue that all ancient Greek art historians and archeologist agree on. That issue is that the reason why the Parthenon frieze cannot be correctly solved is that there is no ancient literature or sources that appropriately archives the context of the frieze. Without contextual evidence, the intertextuality of the subject matter corresponding to the Parthenon frieze becomes ambiguous to the modern viewer. Modern academics can only conceptualize and speculate about what the images of the Parthenon frieze is communicating. In fact, figuring out the great mystery of the Parthenon frieze sparks an immense amount of academic research, which includes articles like “Parthenon and Parthenon: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze,” by Joan B. Connelly, Jenifer Neil’s article “Reconfiguring the Gods on the Parthenon Frieze,” and “The Meaning of the Parthenon Frieze” by Jerome J. Pollit. When reading and comparing all of these articles, the thesis from the essay “The Meaning of the Parthenon Frieze” by Pollit is the most compelling and logical because his thesis— that functions more like a counter-thesis—explains that the Parthenon frieze is the celebration and homage of Greek culture.
According to the article “Parthenon and Parthenon: …show more content…
Sections of the Parthenon frieze are missing. Additionally, the original paint—, which could have included inscriptions—is missing. However, Neil investigates in the great mystery of what the Parthenon frieze really symbolizes by deciphering the identification of the gods and their compositional arrangement, the historical context relating to the images, and how the iconography of the Parthenon frieze influenced the historical discourse of