Or
Why does a lecturing historian offer
“free education” in the streets of Athens?
This is Athens. This is the birthplace of the world as we know it, “good” and “bad”.
Athenian culture, literature, and history has had an immeasurable impact on the trajectory of human life and thought.
The impact of the city, its literature, its culture, its history, is immense. It goes way back in time. But also expands inevitably into the future.
Those that visit Athens, dear passenger, have a unique lifetime opportunity to grasp the past and the future of this world: Our fate as it is written.
When we gaze upon the geometries of the Parthenon, we gaze upon fate itself. We gaze upon the grace and the horror of humanity.
This is not just a place for tourism, dear stranger, this is a place of realization. And for wisdom.
To the uninitiated it might seem to be an overstatement. And yet, the words are not enough.
Athens is indeed crucial, dear visitor, not because everything was invented here. No.
Knowledge existed before Athens. Astronomy, mathematics, geometry, physics, medicine, architecture, chemistry, art, developed way before the city was established.
But what the Athenians did during the 5th century B.C., that “golden era” as scholars call it today, that was indeed the most crucial event in history of civilization.
You see, it was the Athenian philosophers of the 5th century that started publishing this knowledge for the first time in history as we know it. They started sharing freely powerful knowledge that until that era, was kept as a precious secret by the few initiated ones. And they created a city that has become the school of the world ever since.
By sharing powerful knowledge openly in the streets, the Athenian philosophers strove to nurture the seeds of a true democracy, to create the foundations of a better world, to create a wise citizen.
Perhaps, one might say, they failed. Perhaps the power they tried to share was too big of a responsibility for the superstitious, and troubled people of the time. Perhaps this leap of faith was their downfall, not unlike Prometheus who shared fire with the humans without making sure that they would be up to the task.
The story of Athens may therefore serve as roadmap for our future. The question remains, fellow traveler, where do we want to go?
In Athens lie the secrets to all our current issues. Along with the beautiful views, and flavors, the city offers an opportunity to discover the answers, to obtain the knowledge and the wisdom that comes with it.
You can have nice pictures anywhere. But, here, only here in Athens, can you have AthensWisdom.