A fine-grained, calcitic marble with a uniform, faint yellow tint. Since the 1st millennium BCE, Pentelic marble has been quarried from Mt. Pentelikon (Pentelicus, Penteli), northeast of Athens. It was used for the construction of many of the public buildings of ancient Athens, including the famous temples on the Acropolis. It was also used widely for sculpture, including the Parthenon sculptures.

Horse’s head. From the east pediment of the Parthenon, Athens. Pentelic marble. 438-432 BCE. British Museum, London.