Eastern Pediment

View looking up at a detail of the southern corner of the eastern pediment. 

The frieze consists of triglyphs (a grouping of three vertical protrusions) and metopes (the decorated flat spaces between the triglyphs).  There were 92 metopes around the exterior of the building — all decorated in relief.  In the corner of the pediment note the head of a horse protruding over the edge and the reclining figure of a man.  This is how the architect solved the problem of how to fill the narrow space where the gabled roof met the horizontal frieze.

Note the (now) plain horizontal freeze just above the Doric columns.  The large holes that are visible are six of the fourteen along this eastern freeze.  After the battle of Granicus, in 334 B.C., Alexander the Great adorned this freeze with fourteen gilded bronze shields.

Note the numerous  “nail holes” between the larger holes.  These originally supported bronze letters.  The text on this eastern freeze described an honor bestowed upon the Roman Emperor Nero (A.D. 54–68).

The columns of the Parthenon are in the Doric order.  The Doric capitals support the architrave and above this is the frieze.

For a brief description of the Parthenon Click Here.