The agora, or marketplace, is alive with voices of farmers selling their produce.  Men argue over politics, philosophy and the current state of Athens. The name of Socrates, and his student Plato, dead less than half a century ago circulates amongst the toga clad men gathered in the far corner of the agora. Servants hurry about sending messages from house to house, and buying produce for their mistresses for the evening meal. There is talk of a play at the Theatre of Dionysus.

Even in the heat of the day, the naked and glistening bodies of men in training can be seen in the gymnasium.  They are preparing for the athletic competitions that are part of the Panathenaic Festival.  In contrast, four young girls sit weaving a dress for the Goddess Athena in a dark chamber at the Parthenon, which has been completed now for one hundred years.  The dress…