As dawn breaks over Athens, Pheidias is already late for work.
The year is 432 BCE, and he's the architekton, or chief builder, for the Parthenon — Athens' newest and largest temple.
When completed, his masterpiece will be an enormous shrine to the goddess Athena, and a testament to the glory of the Athenians.
But when he arrives onsite he finds five epistatai, or city officials, waiting to confront him.
They accuse Pheidias of embezzling gold designated for the temple's sacred central statue.
He has until sundown to provide all the temple's expenses and account for every flake of gold — or face the judgement of the courts.
Though he's insulted by these false charges, Pheidias isn't surprised.
Pericles, the politician who commissioned the Parthenon, has many enemies in city government, and this project is somewhat controversial.
The public is expecting a classic temple in the Doric style: simple columns supporting a horizontal entablature, crowned with a triangular roof.
But Pheidias' plans are far more radical by Athenian standards.