This icon of classical architecture perched atop the Acropolis has dominated the Athens skyline for 2,500 years. Few monuments in the world are more recognizable than the Parthenon. Sitting atop a limestone hill rising some 500 feet above the Ilissos Valley in Athens, this soaring marble temple built in tribute to the goddess Athena brings the glory of ancient Greece into the modern world. Constructed with impressive speed during a massive fifth-century building project at the hilltop citadel known as the Acropolis, the Parthenon was not only beautiful-- it was built to last.