Pentelic marble

Description

A white, fine-grain marble that has been quarried at Mt. Pentelikon north of Athens since the 1st millennium BCE. Pentelic marble was used for sculpture as well as for buildings. Pentelic marbles often contain inclusions or veins of quartz , iron oxide, graphite, mica, or pyrite. Graphite inclusions in marble, called graphitic marble, show as gray or silver flakes when polished. The Parthenon, including the Elgin marbles, were made of Pentelic marble (Mayer 1969).

Synonyms and Related Terms

marbre pentélique (Fr.); Pentelycus; Mount Pentelicus; graphitic marble

Additional Information

° R. Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row, New York, 1969. ° Ancient Trade Routes: Website

Authority

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Luciana and Tiziano Mannoni, Marble: the history of a culture, Facts on File Publications

• External source or communication Comment: Submitted information from John Herrmann, MFA

• Janet Burnett Grossman, Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2003

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penteli (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)