sniffing dogs combed the area. "It's going to be a great Games ... everything here, the ruins, it's an amazing place to be, there is so much history here," Lewis told Greek ERT television. The flame will burn overnight just outside the Parthenon, most majestic of the temples crowning the hill and dedicated to the goddess Athena, protector of the city. Brainchild of Athenian statesman Pericles, the temple was finished in 432 BC, three centuries after the Olympic Games began. It was decorated by the most celebrated sculptor of his time, Pheidias. Damaged by earthquakes, wars and even misguided restoration efforts, the Acropolis monuments have been undergoing extensive restoration in the past few decades. The Parthenon still bears the heavy scars of a 1687 attack by a Venetian admiral fighting the Ottoman Turks, then rulers of Greece, who used the temple to store ammunition. --MORE 2239 Local Time 1939 GMT
