Metope

The space between triglyphs in a Doric frieze, part of the entablature which is above columns. Or a comparable space on another object.(pr. MEH-tə-pee)Examples:Greece, Cycladic, Large pithos, terra cotta with relief decoration, c. 675 BCE, Archaeological Museum of Thera. The metope on the neck of this vase is decorated with a swan and the band on the shoulder shows two chariots drawn by winged horses. It was taken from a child-burial at the cemetery of ancient Thera, on the north slope of Mt. Sellada. See pithos. A metope as it figures into a schematic diagram of the Doric order, but not into a diagram of the Ionic order. Greece, Olympus (Northwest of the Peloponnesus), c. 460 BCE, West Metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympus: Hercules and the Cretan Bull, Paros marble, height 114 cm, Louvre.Also see abacus, architrave, classical orders, Greek art, Ionic, and Roman art.