El Partenón

For over two thousand years, the Parthenon has dominated the Acropolis of Athens as one of the universal symbols of classical civilization. But what do we really know about this building? How has it come to represent such diverse ideals—democracy, art, empire, national identity—throughout the centuries? In this book, Mary Beard rigorously and with narrative flair reconstructs the history of the Temple of Athena: from its construction in the 5th century BC to its many transformations as a Byzantine church, Ottoman mosque, romantic ruin, and the epicenter of one of the most heated cultural debates of our time.