All-American |
02-05-2007 04:20 AM |
I'll see your destruction of Alexandria by Rome and raise you the destruction of Rome by Christianity. If anything of significance endured to the modern era within the borders of the Roman Empire, from Spain and Britain in the West to Egypt and Byzantium in the East, it is because it was either adopted as or mistaken for a relic of Christianity. The library at Alexandria was a particularly painful loss, but the Romans, who syncretized the gods of other cultures with their own, were incredibly lenient by comparison with and much more concerned with preservation than the Christianity that preached exclusivity.
But then, you ought to hate the same Alexander who founded Alexandria for the destruction incurred upon the Persian Empire. Or upon Xerxes and Cyrus for the destruction their Persia incurred upon Babylonia. Who conquered the Assyrians, who conquered the hittites and Syrians . . .
The bottom line is, who knows what marvels of the ancient world could have survived. I suspect that a far greater portion of civilization lies in the rubble than we could ever imagine, much less perceive.
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