Why Study the Greeks? Check the Map

By MICHAEL SHENEFELT

I've been teaching intellectual history in universities for more than 20 years, and I like to tell myself that I know a thing or two about why great works in the history of ideas come from where they do. But what frustrates me -- if I can say this without giving offense -- is that most of my colleagues don't know. They don't have a clue. And, in consequence, neither do their students. More precisely, professors and students throughout the United States consistently underestimate the