Robin Rhodes intuitive approach to one of the most discussed monuments in the history of art and architecture equips the reader to comprehend the work of a society which, facing destruction, re-interprets a building tradition hundreds of years in the making to express the innovative, nostalgic, and brilliantly defiant nature of the turbulent 5th century B.C.E. Drawing from scuptural attitudes, ritual practices, and political atmospheres, Rhodes places the Athenian Acropolis not at an assumed "zenith" of Greek architecture, but in a very alive and therefore constantly evolving context of artistic achievement. This books appeals to those who enjoy free thought in the most enlightening sense of the words.