4 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Scientists discover traces of paint on the Parthenon Sculptures that reveal their true colours

Recent research on the Parthenon Sculptures has found traces of the original paint used to decorate the Parthenon Sculptures, revealing that these statues were once fact brightly colored.

Also known as the Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon Sculptures are a collection of marble decorative statues taken from the temple to Athena on the Acropolis in Athens.

Exhibited at the British Museum, the Parthenon Sculptures, originally from ancient Greece, have for centuries been admired for their white brilliance – yet new evidence finally proves they haven’t always been this colour.

The sculptures are from Athens’ Parthenon, an ancient temple within the Acropolis, a citadel perched atop a rocky outcrop overlooking the city. The gleaming marble temple, which has become synonymous with ancient Greece, was dedicated to the goddess Athena in the mid-5th century B.C.  Its elaborate decorative sculptures depict scenes from ancient Greek mythology.

A team of investigators from King’s, the British Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago used digital imaging techniques and scientific instrumentation to examine the sculptures at microscopic level, and discovered a “wealth of surviving paint”, revealing that the sculptures had originally been painted in multiple colours, patterns and designs.

“Even if the surfaces were not explicitly prepared for the application of paint, however, carving and color were unified in their conception. The Parthenon artists were sympathetic to the final intended polychrome sculpture, providing surfaces that evoked textures similar to those of the subjects represented. It is likely that the painters took advantage of these mimetic surfaces to achieve the final effects,” says Dr. Will Wootton, Reader in Classical Art and Archaeology and Head of Classics Department.

Researchers used visible-induced luminescence imaging on the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum, a non-invasive technique developed by Dr Giovanni Verri from the Art Institute of Chicago that can detect microscopic traces of a pigment called Egyptian blue, revealing the tiniest remnants of paint and patterns.

Special imaging techniques reveal the areas where microscopic amounts of a blue pigment called Egyptian blue still remain. Photo: Katarzyna Weglowska; ©Trustees of the British Museum
Special imaging techniques reveal the areas where microscopic amounts of a blue pigment called Egyptian blue still remain. Photo: Katarzyna Weglowska; ©Trustees of the British Museum

Egyptian blue is a man-made pigment composed of calcium, copper and silicon; it was already used in Egypt around 3000 BCE and was virtually the only blue pigments used in Greece and Rome.

Small traces of white and purple pigment were also detected on the sculptures. True purple pigment was very valuable in the ancient Mediterranean and was produced from shellfish, but the Parthenon purple apparently was not.

Paint does not often survive over time, especially when exposed to the elements throughout the centuries, and so by the time ancient Greek sculptures were being studied, most of the colour had already worn away. This meant for a long time many believed that ancient Greek art only used white marble.

Additionally, historic restorations have often removed any lasting traces of paint, to reestablish the assumed original ‘whiteness’ of the sculpture. This has made it difficult to understand and reconstruct the sculptures’ original appearance.

“The Parthenon Sculptures at the British Museum are considered one of the pinnacles of ancient art and have been studied for centuries now by a variety of scholars. Despite this, no traces of color have ever been found and little is known about how they were carved,” notes Dr Giovanni Verri.

The carving of the sculptures shows no distinct technical intervention between the surface finish of the marble and the application of paint. Instead, it indicates that the sculptors focused on reproducing the intended form (e.g. wool, linen, skin, etc), rather than crafting a special surface for the adhesion of paint through, for example, keying or abrasion.

These preliminary findings suggest that the painting of the Parthenon Sculptures was a more elaborate undertaking then ever imagined. This supports the belief that the colours, together with the carvings of ancient Greek sculpture were important for its creators and intended audiences.

The study was published in the journal Antiquity.

Related Articles

The 1,000-year-old Church found under a cornfield in Germany

2 July 2021

2 July 2021

The foundation walls of the large church of the rediscovered Royal Palace of Helfta in Eisleben in the German state...

Treasure Hunter Claims to Find First Council of Nicaea’s Location, Demands $50 Million for Discovery

26 April 2025

26 April 2025

In a startling revelation, Mustafa Uysal, a treasure hunter from Bursa, has claimed to have unearthed an underground city in...

Archaeologists unearth the remains of three dozen headless people at a stone age settlement in Vráble, Slovakia

25 September 2022

25 September 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a mass grave containing the remains of about three dozen headless bodies of people at a settlement...

Deadly 7.7 quakes hit Turkey destroys historical Gaziantep Castle

6 February 2023

6 February 2023

A deadly 7.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, with tremors felt in the neighboring provinces, has...

Scandinavia’s Oldest Identified Ship Burial in Trøndelag “Rewrites History”

14 November 2023

14 November 2023

In Leka, a municipality in Norway’s Trøndelag county, archaeologists have uncovered Scandinavia’s oldest identified ship burial, dating back to around...

The earliest Buddha statues in China found in northwestern Shaanxi

10 December 2021

10 December 2021

The two copper-tin-lead alloy Buddha statues discovered in northwestern Shaanxi Province became the earliest Buddha statues of this kind unearthed...

Archaeologists find 4,000-year-old Sanctuary in Netherlands

22 June 2023

22 June 2023

Archaeologists discovered a 4,000-year-old sanctuary during excavations of the model industrial estate in the town of Tiel, located 72 kilometers...

Incredibly Rare Tyrian Purple Discovered at Carlisle Roman bathhouse

5 May 2024

5 May 2024

A rare archaeological object – thought to be the only one of its type in the former Roman Empire –...

One of the earliest water channels in history dating back 8,200 years was discovered in western Türkiye

27 August 2023

27 August 2023

One of the earliest water channels in history dating back 8,200 years was found during the excavation work carried out...

East and West Meeting at the King’s Dinner Table

7 April 2021

7 April 2021

Researchers from Tezukayama University and the Uzbekistan Archaeological Institute reported that a food pantry about 37 feet long and 10...

Khirbet Midras pyramid and  Archaeological Site in Israel

28 November 2022

28 November 2022

Khirbet Midras (Arabic) or Horvat Midras (Hebrew) is one of several antiquities sites located within the Adullam Grove National Park,...

Archaeologists Discovered 1,500-Year-Old Maya Palace in Mexico

25 September 2023

25 September 2023

Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) archaeologists have discovered a palace at an ancient Maya city in southeastern...

Ancient settlements that challenge traditional thinking “Karahantepe and Taş Tepeler”

5 December 2021

5 December 2021

After Göbeklitepe in Şanlıurfa, which sheds light on 12,000 years ago in human history and is considered one of the...

In Fraueninsel in Lake Chiemsee: Romanesque a central building hidden underground for 1,000 years discovered

25 February 2024

25 February 2024

On Fraueninsel, an island in Germany’s Lake Chiemsee, archaeologists discovered a cult site that may have been slumbering underground for...

Women buried with thick twisted bronze neck rings and buckets on their feet found in Ukraine

20 January 2024

20 January 2024

Archaeologists discovered the remains of men buried with weapons such as axes, spearheads, and swords, and women buried with thick...