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Where Is the Parthenon?
Discover the ruins of the Parthenon, one of the most famous and beautiful places in the world!
Athens, Greece, is best known for the Parthenon, the ruins of an ancient temple completed in 438 BC to honor the goddess Athena. But what many people don't know is that it only served as a temple for a couple hundred years. It then became a church, then a mosque, and by the end of the 1600s served as a storehouse for munitions. When an enemy army fired hundreds of cannon balls at the Acropolis, one directly hit the Parthenon. Much of the sculpture was destroyed, three hundred people died, and the site fell into ruin. Today, visitors continue to flock to this world famous landmark, which has become a symbol for Ancient Greece, democracy, and modern civilization. Includes black-and-white illustrations and a foldout color map!
Athens, Greece, is best known for the Parthenon, the ruins of an ancient temple completed in 438 BC to honor the goddess Athena. But what many people don't know is that it only served as a temple for a couple hundred years. It then became a church, then a mosque, and by the end of the 1600s served as a storehouse for munitions. When an enemy army fired hundreds of cannon balls at the Acropolis, one directly hit the Parthenon. Much of the sculpture was destroyed, three hundred people died, and the site fell into ruin. Today, visitors continue to flock to this world famous landmark, which has become a symbol for Ancient Greece, democracy, and modern civilization. Includes black-and-white illustrations and a foldout color map!
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 19, 2016
48 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 28, 2021
I've found that the Where Is?/What is?/Who is? series of children's history books are quite a good introductory resource to introduce children to various people, places, and events. They can vary in quality depending on how much is known about the subject and their approach, but I've found them to be able to keep the kids attention and be quite informative (often even teaching me things I didn't necessarily know).
The same holds true with Where is the Parthenon?. While I've known about the Parthenon and what it was built for as a temple for Athena, I didn't know too much of the story behind it being built and what happened after it was built. For instance I didn't know some of the ways the Parthenon was used after it was no longer controlled by the Greeks.
Another thing I appreciate about these books is that they tend to go beyond just the history surrounding when and why something was built. They'll talk about some of the more modern events around the Parthenon, like the Earl of Elgin who removed a number of the statues and friezes around 1800. It also talks about modern buildings that are inspired by the Parthenon/Greek style of architecture like some of the buildings in Washington DC or the replica of the Parthenon in Nashville.
As I said I've really enjoyed this series of books. It's not a comprehensive look at the Parthenon and all of its history, but it is a great introduction to the landmark and its history for kids. I mean it's not a terrible intro for adults, as I know I learned some things, but it is geared more towards kids and may not paint as complete a picture as an adult historical work might.
The same holds true with Where is the Parthenon?. While I've known about the Parthenon and what it was built for as a temple for Athena, I didn't know too much of the story behind it being built and what happened after it was built. For instance I didn't know some of the ways the Parthenon was used after it was no longer controlled by the Greeks.
Another thing I appreciate about these books is that they tend to go beyond just the history surrounding when and why something was built. They'll talk about some of the more modern events around the Parthenon, like the Earl of Elgin who removed a number of the statues and friezes around 1800. It also talks about modern buildings that are inspired by the Parthenon/Greek style of architecture like some of the buildings in Washington DC or the replica of the Parthenon in Nashville.
As I said I've really enjoyed this series of books. It's not a comprehensive look at the Parthenon and all of its history, but it is a great introduction to the landmark and its history for kids. I mean it's not a terrible intro for adults, as I know I learned some things, but it is geared more towards kids and may not paint as complete a picture as an adult historical work might.
August 7, 2018
In my opinion, this book is suitable for history lovers aged from junior secondary to senior secondary students. The book content is mainly about the structure and history of the Parthenon in the city of Athens in ancient Greece. Firstly, the book introduces the readers to know the main concepts of the Parthenon, the readers gets to know when and where the Parthenon was built, why it was so important, what did people do there, and much more. Secondly, the book tells the readers about the history in ancient Greece and why the Parthenon and how it was built. It also talks about the whole structure of the architect and how amazing it was for ancient people to build such a beautiful temple. Lastly, the book tells the readers how the Parthenon really looks now after the destruction in war by different empires across the globe, and what purposes was the Parthenon for after the wars. As I said in the start of my review, I recommend this book to history lovers who would like to learn about ancient western history.
March 1, 2020
Where Is the Parthenon? by Roberta Edwards is another book in the award-winning "Where Is" series. This one is about the history of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece...Ooops! I guess I gave away the punch line! Anyway, that's where it is. It was completed in 438 BC as a temple to honor the goddess Athena but over the centuries has been used as a temple, a church, a mosque, a munitions storehouse, and more. It has survived cannonballs in war as well as pilfering by visitors. Most of the original beautiful sculptures have been destroyed or removed to museums but even in its current state of ruin, it is still a very impressive structure and one of the most popular and well-known places visited every year. We count ourselves among those fortunate enough to have seen it in person. As with the other books in this series, it includes plenty of black and white illustrations and maps.
May 15, 2016
A favorite nonfiction series. Who knew Pericles' nickname was 'Sea-onion head'? Now I want to go visit.
June 29, 2022
Very interesting history of how and why the Parthenon was built. I do think I'll add the replica to my list of things I'd like to see
October 29, 2023
1. Most of the column tops on the Parthenon are plain, but a few fancier ones have scroll designs. The plain ones are in a style called Doric. The fancier ones are called Ionic.
2. Although we know which story the west pediment portrayed, many of the major statues in this group—both of Athena and Poseidon, for example—were destroyed, and no drawings were ever done to show what they had looked like. So archeologists can take only a best guess at how the figures were posed and arranged.
3. The most famous “collector” was Lord Elgin of Great Britain. He was a nobleman who worked for England with the Turkish Empire. In 1801 he came to Athens, where the Turks were still in control. Elgin got a permit from them to take home marble.
4. By the end of the AD 500s, the temple had become a church. First it was a Greek Orthodox church, then later a Roman Catholic church, with a bell tower added in the 1200s. Much of the sculpture was damaged on purpose because ancient Greek gods were not Christian.
5. In 1458, the Turks took control of Athens. They followed the Muslim religion, so the Parthenon was turned into a mosque with a slender tower called a minaret attached to it.
2. Although we know which story the west pediment portrayed, many of the major statues in this group—both of Athena and Poseidon, for example—were destroyed, and no drawings were ever done to show what they had looked like. So archeologists can take only a best guess at how the figures were posed and arranged.
3. The most famous “collector” was Lord Elgin of Great Britain. He was a nobleman who worked for England with the Turkish Empire. In 1801 he came to Athens, where the Turks were still in control. Elgin got a permit from them to take home marble.
4. By the end of the AD 500s, the temple had become a church. First it was a Greek Orthodox church, then later a Roman Catholic church, with a bell tower added in the 1200s. Much of the sculpture was damaged on purpose because ancient Greek gods were not Christian.
5. In 1458, the Turks took control of Athens. They followed the Muslim religion, so the Parthenon was turned into a mosque with a slender tower called a minaret attached to it.
November 3, 2023
I used this book in our geography club. We had a book discussion and had activities to go along with the book. Activities that we did to learn more were: we looked at optical illusions, played with tangrams to learn more with shapes, learned more about Greece and it's geography, we had a sculpture building contest with playdough, ate baklava and built a civilization with blocks, planks, and trains. The kids (age 5-9) loved the activities.
October 3, 2019
Very interesting book. I liked how they told how they determined what the Parthenon really looked like, by looking at drawings people have done over the years. Interesting overview of Greece and Athens and the glory that was and is the Parthenon.
April 22, 2018
Great information about the details of the Parthenon. I'd love to see it some day. There was a small amount of Greek history in the book, but not much.
April 22, 2018
Bought for classroom library for 6th grade world history. Added this as part of a text set on Ancient Greece. For student research papers, it provided information for students researching Pericles.
July 29, 2019
Good
Kind of disappointed that they didn't show any actual pictures in this book. Usually they do. Still a good read.
Kind of disappointed that they didn't show any actual pictures in this book. Usually they do. Still a good read.
December 15, 2020
I actually learned a lot from this book. I can definitely understand why my students enjoy reading them. This book was particularly interesting for me since I have visited there.
January 31, 2021
A really in-depth discussion of the Parthenon for young people. My son and I enjoyed it as part of our study of Greece.
July 3, 2021
We read this book aloud along with our homeschool study of Ancient Greece, and in preparation for our trip to see the Parthenon replica in Nashville, TN. It was good!
August 17, 2021
This was a good supplement to our study of ancient Greek history.
October 13, 2021
Great book
February 11, 2023
A Good book of a nice monument.
August 20, 2023
I understand the parthenon and Greece in new ways after reading this book and I appreciate that.
September 6, 2023
So informative on the Parthenon. I love reading kids books for a quick learning session. The Who, What, Where books are the best!
November 4, 2023
Very entertaining and informative middle reader about the Parthenon in Athens. It includes a pull out map. The history of the building and the people who built it are described too.
September 7, 2025
Informative, mildly interesting information about the design, construction, uses and eventual destruction of the Parthenon.
November 9, 2023
it is a good book and intrsing i think it was sad how it got destroyed it got destryed in a war
September 3, 2021
Love this whole series, as well as the Who Is, What Is series. Students enjoy them and they teach history/social studies/geography well. As an adult, I also enjoy them. Quick, easy reads, but informative. Great for class libraries.
If you had enough books for a whole class maybe each student reads about a different person or place and then share what they learned.
Grades: 3+ (Possibly 2nd for a read aloud)
If you had enough books for a whole class maybe each student reads about a different person or place and then share what they learned.
Grades: 3+ (Possibly 2nd for a read aloud)
July 3, 2016
i liked it. ha ha ha ha ha ? ha
October 12, 2016
i liked it
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews