I n a recent book, The Geography of Genius , Eric Weiner sets out on what he calls “a search for the world’s most creative places, from ancient Athens to Silicon Valley.” Change the term “most creative places” to “places that embody a civilization-building accomplishment,” or “places most emblematic of an era,” and there would probably be considerable overlap. For some cities embody the spirit of an age, for good or ill, in a singular way.
Think “classical Greece” and the emergence in Western civilization of a confidence in reason’s capacity to get at the truth of things, and, yes, you immediately think of Athens between the mid-fifth and early fourth centuries B.C.
