Classical Parthenon

This book is a companion to Who Saved the Parthenon? and turns away from recent accounts that present the Athenian Acropolis as a monument to democracy. It asks whether an ancient past loaded with modern meaning can be reached at all and, if so, by what means. William St Clair's answer is to rebuild the Parthenon as the classical Athenians themselves would have understood it.

To do this, he weaves together textual and visual evidence and presents his findings through two experimental pieces of oratory: a speech written in the style of Thucydides and a rhetorical exercise from the first century CE. These pieces support a narrative analysis of the temple's structure, which uncovers an unexpected story about its claims to native origins and its place in Athenian imperial power.

The book also offers fresh answers to long-standing puzzles, including the meaning of the frieze. It uses the Parthenon as a way to examine the wider connections between artefacts, built heritage and the layers of rhetoric that accumulate around cultural sites over time.

Written for readers of classics, art history and the nature of history, the book should also appeal to general readers who are questioning what monuments mean in contemporary society.