Epic Seven: Mano-y-Mano - Executive Summary
In 3300 BC, here's what the map looked like:
That torpedoed the alternative-city 20k plan real quickly. Not another fresh water source anywhere on the continent anywhere, and one poor food bonus in broken terrain. So Thebes went for the 20k cultural win instead.
I built a temple, and then built The Pyramids, even before any settlers. That triggered Golden Age, and with roads already in place to some good sites and instant Granaries, city expansion FLEW after that. I beelined to Monarchy, which helped even more.
Once I met Greece, I mostly followed in their tracks for research, since anything they had already researched was half-cost for me.
Couldn't fathom why, but Greece didn't build any rails for about the first fifty turns of the Industrial Age. They did have both coal and iron. After my coal resource moved into their territory, then they did. Weird.
Had two short wars: one halfway through the Middle Ages in which Greece relieved me of all my cities besides the home continent and Middle Island (shot below), and another in late Industrial in which I took all of Middle Island and the two tiny islands.
Byblos was the Forbidden Palace in the west half of my continent, and it built Magellan's since Thebes couldn't.
Here's the Chronicles of Thebes:
Missed the Oracle by four turns. 
Beelined to Monarchy, and built the Hanging Gardens. 
Beelined to Literature next, and built the Great Library. (Yes, with only one other civ in the game.)
Beelined to Construction next, and for lack of anything else, built the Great Wall. 
Built Sistine Chapel. 
Built JS Bach's Cathedral. 
Missed Newton's, but used it for Adam Smith's instead. 
Started Universal Suffrage as a prebuild, but then got it anyway in an amazing come-from-behind snatch thanks to Greece not having rails. 
Built Shakespeare's the usual way. 
Built Theory of Evolution, and all the available small wonders (Heroic Epic came late.)
Built SETI and Manhattan Project. 
Cultural Win in 1924 AD. 
You can see the last page for more discussion and some pictures.
