PROFESSOR TOM HARRISON, British Museum, looks again at the old thesis that the iconography of the Parthenon took inspiration from the art of Persepolis. He does so by taking a wider view of the role of Persia as a model for Athenian imperialism. By examining the evidence for other Persian architectural and artistic influence on the Greek world, and reviewing the role of Persia in Aeschylus’ Persians, Old Comedy and Herodotus’ Histories, he argues that Persia served as an inevitable point of reference for Athens’ imperial ambitions.