Golden Age VS Rennaisance

[dh_epic]

An idea that occured to me, although this would probably be more of an issue for Civ 4 rather than some kind of mod, would be the idea of a cultural Rennaisance.

Consider that an empire could have a Golden Age, such as Rome. But then a number of turns later, they could have a Rennaisance. This wouldn't be the same kind of Rennaisance as in "The Rennaisance" taught in a lot of history books, but a much less Eurocentric view of a Rennaisance.

Simply, it would be like a second Golden Age. Triggered by the building of a Great Wonder.

Maybe even giving each nation a second "special unit" would make this even more interesting... although this would be tricky for late blooming civilizations such as the Americans, it would be hard to fathom two special unit types considering the Golden Age of America is relatively recent (arguably still going).

For a Rennaisance to occur, you'd have to fathom a rise to power, a dark or stagnant age, and then a re-vitalization. Doesn't quite work for some empires.

If you've read up on political thought in Africa, occasionally there is reference to "triggering an African Rennaisance". Basically, to bring about a great leap forward, or maybe to recognize one's own historical greatness that might have been forgotten or neglected.

Maybe a Rennaisance wouldn't be like a Golden Age at all. Less of a military, international issue, and more of a cultural issue. Afterall, it is my understanding that the European Rennaisance had a lot to do with discovering classic thought from the Arab world as well as Greece. And note that the European Rennaisance was quite continental, many empires benefitted from the ressurgence in BC knowledge and culture.

[God]

Well Renaisance only occured in Europe. Everybody else was doing pretty well already.
Two units? Well how can Aztec have 2 units.
Eygypt can have 2, one as its regular and one from more recent times, maybe the Assasin?