The lucky metope
The Parthenon as a Church (metope)
Christians prohibited any form of pagan worship. Under this pretext, they damaged numerous pagan ancient temples. They disfigured the faces of the gods and carved crosses on many of them to ‘christianize’ them. The Parthenon was one of the temples damaged in this manner. The entire sculptural decoration suffered extensive damage, but one metope managed to escape unscathed. This lucky metope was metope 32 on the northern side, which was mistaken for a representation of the Annunciation. In actual fact, it depicted the Gods of Olympus convening to decide the end of the Trojan War. The supposed Archangel is the goddess Hebe and the assumed Virgin Mary is in fact the Titaness Rhea (mother of Hera).
As seen on
The Parthenon throughout the years (XL)