At once an entrancing cultural history and a congenial guide for tourists, armchair travelers, and amateur archaeologists alike, this book takes readers through the storied past and towering present of the most famous building in the world. ...

The Elgin Marbles, designed and executed by Phidias to adorn the Parthenon, are some of the most beautiful sculptures of ancient Greece.

In this work, Mary Beard tells the history and explains the significance of the Parthenon, the temple of the virgin goddess Athena, and of the great sculptures which adorned it, now dispersed and some lost forever.