Parthenon Frieze _ North VIII, 25-28

Half of the North frieze is in the British Museum and the other half in the Acropolis museum. The total length of the north frieze was 58.70 m. The scenes begin at the northwest corner of the opisthonaos as a continuation of the procession which has already started on the west side, thus running from block N XLVII to block N I. The action develops gradually and from quiet preparation accelerates to a gallop. Ignoring the divisions of the blocks, the horsemen are depicted proceeding in groups of seven or eight, the horses partly overlapping each other. The continuous flow of horses and riders is interrupted only by the marshal (90) on block XXXIV. Yet with variety of garment, of stance and gesture of the most beautiful of the horsemen and with the occasional depiction of a man turning his head to look back, monotony is avoided. The frieze of the Parthenon forms a continuous band with scenes in low relief that encircles the upper part of the cella, the main temple, within the outer colonnade. The theme represented was the procession toward the Acropolis that took place during the Great Panathenaia, the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena.Numbering taken from I. Jenkins, The Parthenon Frieze, 1994. Frieze slabs are marked in Roman numerals, People are marked in arabic numerals.北檐壁的一半馆藏于大英博物馆，另一半则陈列于雅典卫城博物馆。北檐壁总长度达58.70米。其叙事场景始于后殿（opisthonaos）西北角，接续了西侧已然展开的游行队伍，因此排布从编号N XLVII的石板延伸至编号N I的石板。叙事进程循序渐进，从静谧的筹备阶段逐步加速至奔跃之势。暂不考虑石板的分割界限，骑手们以七人或八人为一组行进，马匹彼此间部分重叠。连绵不绝的车马人流仅被第XXXIV号石板上编号为90的游行领队所打断。加之骑手服饰、姿态与手势的丰富变化——其中不乏最为精妙的骑手形象，偶有骑手回首张望，彻底避免了画面的单调感。帕特农神庙檐壁构成一条环绕外柱廊内主殿（cella）上部的低浮雕连续饰带。其所呈现的主题，是大泛雅典娜节（Great Panathenaia，纪念雅典娜女神诞辰的庆典）期间前往卫城的游行队伍。石板编号参考自I·詹金斯所著《帕特农神庙檐壁》（1994年版）。檐壁石板以罗马数字标注，人物则以阿拉伯数字编号。