Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Parthenon was built in the 5th century BC in thanksgiving for the Greek victory over Persian invaders during the Greco-Persian Wars. Construction started in 447 BC when the Delian League was at the peak of its power, and the building was substantially completed by 432 BC.
The name Parthenon comes from the Greek parthénos, meaning maiden, girl, or virgin woman. Scholars disagree on whether it refers to the "unmarried women's apartments" in the building, the cult of Athena Parthenos, or maidens whose sacrifice protected the city. The ancient architects appear to have called the building Hekatompedos, and the first certain use of "Parthenon" for the entire building comes from the 4th-century BC orator Demosthenes.
On the 26th of September 1687, a Venetian mortar round fired from the Hill of Philopappos struck the Parthenon, which the Ottomans had been using as a gunpowder magazine. The explosion destroyed the building's central portion, brought down six columns from the south side and eight from the north, and killed about three hundred people.
The chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon was sculpted by Phidias and dedicated in 439 or 438 BC. The statue is now completely lost and is known only from copies, vase paintings, gems, literary descriptions, and coins.
From 1801 to 1812, agents of Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, removed about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures and shipped them to Britain, where they are now held in the British Museum. In 1983, the Greek government formally asked the UK to return the sculptures, and in 2021, UNESCO called upon the UK government to resolve the issue. The British Museum has consistently refused, and discussions between UK and Greek officials are ongoing. Four pieces have been repatriated to Greece: three from the Vatican and one from a museum in Sicily.
The Parthenon began as a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. In the final decades of the 5th century AD it was converted into a Christian church, the Church of the Parthenos Maria. After Ottoman forces took Athens and the Acropolis surrendered in June 1458, it became a mosque. It became the fourth most important Christian pilgrimage destination in the Eastern Roman Empire before its conversion, after Constantinople, Ephesos, and Thessaloniki.