09
July 2025

The Parthenon: A Jewel

Welcome to The Arts Society Basingstoke
Wednesday, July 9, 2025 - 10:45
Sherfield-on-Loddon Village Hall
Reading Road Sherfield-on-Loddon RG27 0EZ
Online Event

All about the wonder of the Athenian Acropolis and its jewel, the Parthenon

Everyone knows of the wonders of the Athenian Acropolis with the Parthenon as the jewel in its crown. No expense was spared as leading artists, sculptors and architects worked on its construction at a time when Athens was undergoing an extraordinary cultural revolution: this was the age of Socrates, Euripides, Aristophanes, Herodotus and Sophocles. The buildings on the Acropolis were constructed in a few short decades as a symbol and celebration of Athens' democracy. The building programme, prompted by the leading democratic politician, Pericles, was in fact, highly controversial - and sharply divided Athenian democratic opinion in its own day.

Image: View of the Acropolis by the lecturer

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Mr James Renshaw

Following a degree in Classics from Oxford University, I have taught Classics at secondary school level since 1998, and currently teach at Godolphin and Latymer in London; here I run the school’s Ancient World Breakfast Club, which has an ethos similar to that of The Arts Society. 

Since 1998, I have published a number of textbooks related to the classical world, including In Search of the Greeks and In Search of the Romans. In addition to my school teaching, I have also lectured for the V&A Academy, most recently on their Classical World and its Afterlife and Classicism from the Ancients to the Renaissance courses. I am a keen traveller, and am lucky enough to have taken many photos of ancient sites, a number of which have been used in my books.