The
ParianParos is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. Today, Paros is one of the most popular European tourist hotspots...
marble is a fine-grained semitranslucent pure-white
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
quarried during the
classicalClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
era on that
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
island of the
AegeanThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
SeaA sea is any large amount of water filled with animals such as crabs, whales, sharks, and fish, but there is inconsistency as to its precise definition and application. Most commonly, a sea may refer to a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, but it is also used sometimes for a...
.
It was highly prized by the ancient
GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
for making
sculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard and/or plastic material, sound, and/or text and or light, commonly stone , metal, glass, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by finding or carving; others are assembled, built together and fired, welded, molded,...
s. Some of the greatest masterpieces of ancient Greek sculpture were carved from the Parian marble, including the
Medici VenusThe Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a lifesize Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is a first century BC marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of the Aphrodite of Cnidos, which would have been...
and the
Winged Victory ofThe Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a third century B.C. marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike...
SamothraceSamothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a self-governing deme within the Evros Prefecture of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,723 . Its main industries are fishing and tourism. Resources on the island includes granite and basalt. ...
.
The original quarries, which were used from the
6th century BCThe sixth century BC started the first day of 600 BC and ended the last day of 501 BC.In India, Panini, sometime during this century, composed a grammar for Sanskrit, which is the one of oldest extant grammar of any language after 15 other proto-dravidian languages like Brahmi.In the Near East,...
onwards, can still be seen on the north side of the island on the slopes of its central peak.
Another meaning for "
Parian Marble" is a tablet, otherwise known as the
Parian ChronicleThe Parian Marble is a Greek chronological table, inscribed on a stele, covering the years from 1581 BC to 264 BC...
or the Marmor Parium, which is the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table.
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The
ParianParos is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. Today, Paros is one of the most popular European tourist hotspots...
marble is a fine-grained semitranslucent pure-white
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
quarried during the
classicalClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
era on that
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
island of the
AegeanThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
SeaA sea is any large amount of water filled with animals such as crabs, whales, sharks, and fish, but there is inconsistency as to its precise definition and application. Most commonly, a sea may refer to a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, but it is also used sometimes for a...
.
It was highly prized by the ancient
GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
for making
sculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard and/or plastic material, sound, and/or text and or light, commonly stone , metal, glass, or wood. Some sculptures are created directly by finding or carving; others are assembled, built together and fired, welded, molded,...
s. Some of the greatest masterpieces of ancient Greek sculpture were carved from the Parian marble, including the
Medici VenusThe Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a lifesize Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. It is a first century BC marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture, following the type of the Aphrodite of Cnidos, which would have been...
and the
Winged Victory ofThe Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a third century B.C. marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike...
SamothraceSamothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a self-governing deme within the Evros Prefecture of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,723 . Its main industries are fishing and tourism. Resources on the island includes granite and basalt. ...
.
The original quarries, which were used from the
6th century BCThe sixth century BC started the first day of 600 BC and ended the last day of 501 BC.In India, Panini, sometime during this century, composed a grammar for Sanskrit, which is the one of oldest extant grammar of any language after 15 other proto-dravidian languages like Brahmi.In the Near East,...
onwards, can still be seen on the north side of the island on the slopes of its central peak.
Another meaning for "
Parian Marble" is a tablet, otherwise known as the
Parian ChronicleThe Parian Marble is a Greek chronological table, inscribed on a stele, covering the years from 1581 BC to 264 BC...
or the Marmor Parium, which is the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table. It has been in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
since 1667, and is one of the greatest treasures of the
Ashmolean MuseumThe Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
.
The
Parian WareParian Ware was a form of unglazed porcelain, given the commercial name to link it in the consumer's mind with the immaculately white Parian marble from the Greek island of Paros; its slightly gritty, sugary surface mimicked the marble well. Parian ware provided a cheap substitute for carved marble...
is an artificial substitute for marble made from unglazed
porcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
, developed in 1842 in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
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