The ruined silhouette of the Parthenon on its hill above Athens is one of the world's most famous images. Its 'looted' Elgin Marbles are a global cause celebre. But what actually are they? In the first of an occasional 'series' on wonders of the world - such as the Colosseum, Stonehenge, the Pyramids, the Alhambra, Mary Beard, biographer, reviewer and leading Cambridge classicist, tells the history and explains the significance of the Parthenon, the temple of the virgin goddess Athena, the divine patroness of ancient Athens. "The Wonders of the World" is a series of books that focuses on some of the world's most famous sites or monuments. Their names will be familiar to almost everyone: they have achieved iconic stature and are loaded with a fair amount of mythological baggage. These monuments have been the subject of many books over the centuries, but our aim, through the skill and stature of the writers, is to get something much more enlightening, stimulating, even controversial, than straightforward histories or guides.

雅典山上的帕台农神庙的废墟剪影是世界上最著名的图像之一。它的 "被掠夺的 "埃尔金大理石是一个全球瞩目的话题。但它们究竟是什么？在关于世界奇迹--如斗兽场、巨石阵、金字塔、阿尔罕布拉宫--的不定期 "系列 "的第一篇中，传记作家、评论家和剑桥大学著名古典主义学者玛丽-比尔德讲述了帕台农神庙的历史并解释了其意义，它是古代雅典的神圣女神雅典娜的神庙。《世界奇迹 》是一套专注于世界上一些最著名的景点或纪念碑的书籍。它们的名字几乎每个人都会很熟悉：它们已经取得了标志性的地位，并装载了相当多的神话包袱。几个世纪以来，这些古迹已经成为许多书籍的主题，但我们的目标是，通过作家的技能和地位，获得比直接的历史或指南更有启发性、刺激性、甚至有争议性的东西。