Democracy's symbolic birthplace, the famed Acropolis, stands today as a reminder of the glory that was ancient Greece. Atop this ancient citadel—once the center of Athenian civil pride and religion—stands the most famous structure in the Western world, the Parthenon. Here, historian R. Taylor Austen tells the stirring story of the Parthenon but also traces the history of Athens itself—its meteoric ascendancy, its worldwide impact, and its subsequent decline.