IMAGES of the Parthenon as a stark, white structure against an azure sky are stunning, but not quite true to its past. A team at the in London has found the first evidence of coloured paints used on the temple in Athens. Built in the 5th century BC, its statues and friezes show scenes from Greek mythology.
Pigments are known to have enriched other Greek statues and temples, but despite two centuries of searching, archaeologists had found no trace of them on the Parthenon鈥檚 many sculptures, until now.
Giovanni Verri, a researcher at the British Museum, developed an imaging technique sensitive to traces of an ancient pigment, Egyptian blue. He shines red light onto marble and if the pigment is present, it absorbs the red light and emits infrared light. Viewed through an infrared camera, any area that was once blue appears to glow.
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Verri has found Egyptian blue on the , and as a wave pattern along the back of the sun god, shown rising from the sea at dawn. It also shows up on a mantle draped over .
鈥淭his adds another dimension to how we perceive the Parthenon,鈥� says , senior curator at the museum. He says the temple would originally have looked 鈥渏ewelled鈥� and 鈥渂usy鈥�. Judging by similar Greek sculptures, the main pigments used were probably 鈥� with some white stone visible 鈥� plus some gilding.