MĔTOPA

or MĔTŎPE ( μετόπη ), the name applied to each of the spaces between the triglyphs in the frieze of the Doric order, and by metonymy to the sculptured ornament with which those spaces were filled up. In the original significance of the parts the triglyphs represent the ends of the cro -beams or joists which rested on the architrave; the beds of these beams were called ὀπαί , and hence the spaces between them μετόπαι . Originally they were left open; next they were filled up with plain slabs, as in the propylaea at Eleusis, and many other buildings, and lastly, but still at an early period, they were adorned with sculptures either in low or high relief. The metopes from the Par the non in the British Museum are adorned with sculptures in high relief.