In the book the messenger goddess Iris, from the east pediment of the temple, guides the reader through four imaginary promenades in the temple. In the first, “in Antiquity”, he sees the Parthenon in its most magnificent form, as it was in 432 B.C. when it was finished by Perikles and Pheidias. In the second promenade “in History”, Iris narrates the difficulties endured by the great temple, the major and minor damage it has suffered up to now. In the promenades “on the Acropolis” and “in the British Museum”, Iris helps the reader to reconstruct the compositions in their entirety from the surviving fragmentary sculptures in the two Museums. Finally, in the “Epimetron”, a complete picture is given of all the decorative sculpture of the Parthenon, filled in by the drawings of J. Carrey, who drew the sculpture in 1674, when it was still in place on the building.
The book can be combined with the use of the Museum Kit “The Parthenon Frieze”.