Greek legacy

Athens

As everyone knows, Sigmund Freud was a fraud. And, like many frauds, he thought the Parthenon might also be one. But he summoned his nerve and visited the sacred site and was delighted as well as shocked at what he saw. This was 1904. Like other visitors, Freud dreaded that the real thing might not live up to his expectations, but it did and continues to do so today. Unlike other cultural icons — the ‘Mona Lisa’, the pyramids — the Parthenon never disappoints, and even a philistine such as Bill Clinton has been photographed misty-eyed between the columns.

Mind you, the one that takes the booby prize is the American lassie that years ago yelled, ‘Look, Ma, from here you can see the Hilton.’ I suppose it’s the symmetry and the proportions that make the Parthenon the wonder it is, and if a certain Lord Elgin had never existed, the place would be even more exquisite than it is.