Although famous for its pure white surface this look was actually avoided by greek sculptors.
White pentelic marble.
The main rival of the parian marble in antiquity was the pentelic marble which is also flawless white albeit with a uniform faint yellow tint that makes it shine with a golden hue under sunlight.
Pentelic marble is calcitic in composition with quartz as an accessory mineral.
A white marble quarried on mount pentelicus near athens.
It is fine grained with sporadic calcitic fossil clasts.
The chief summit about 10 miles 16 km northeast of athens athína is kokkinarás 3 632 feet 1 107 m which yields white pentelic marble on its north slope.
During classical antiquity the most famous type was the close grained golden toned pentelic variety quarried at mount pentelicon in attica.
This construction was built almost entirely with pentelic marble and shows 8 columns at its two shorter sides and 17 columns at its longer ones containing a statue of athena in its central area.
In ancient times the pentelic marble was an important export product of athens.
Pentelic marble was used for most of the major monuments of classical athens especially from the 5th century bc onwards and was the first white marble to be used in significant quantities at rome in the 2nd century bc.
Thus many great monuments found scattered in various parts of greece made of pentelic marble.
The most popular types of marble stone employed in sculpture are pentelic parian and carrara marble.
Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.
In classical times the peak had 25 quarries on the south slope at elevations between 2 500 and 3 300 feet 760 and 1000 m.
Discover more about paros.
A cave on ymittos above vari contains a carved relief of a quarryman.
Other articles where pentelic marble is discussed.
Pentelic marble from the quarries at penteli north of athens is a fine grained calcitic marble.
1 107 m which yields white pentelic marble on its north slope.
The marble industry also thrived on mt ymittos where quarries produced a grey or bluish grey stone much beloved by the romans.
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals most commonly calcite or dolomite marble is typically not foliated although there are exceptions in geology the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone.
Pentelic marble is white with a uniform faint yellow tint which makes it shine with a golden hue under sunlight.
Its main features were the unique white appearance purity clarity and transparency.
The pentelic marble was also widely used in temple and statue construction.
Green marble also came from skyros and tinos while thasos provided a fine white marble that could rival pentelic.