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Corbis

Durrell’s Epidaurus (shown here, compare with photo of the ruined citadel of Mycenae) was a place of dreamy innocence, with none of Mycenae’s tragic aura or Delphi’s enigmatic tension. Its gentle landscape—an inland valley on a peninsula in the Saronic Gulf—was home to the great fourth-century B.C. temple of Asclepius, Apollo’s son and god of healing. (In Homer’s Iliad, Asclepius is described as a heroic mortal, “a blameless physician.”) A gymnasium, hostelry and theater were erected near the temple. Classical works are still performed at the well-preserved theater, whose acoustics remain near-perfect.