3 ms·
relevance seems unclear.
by abiox 9y ago
relevance seems unclear.
- slau 9y agoNot the OP, but it's from Ozymandias, by Percy Shelley. It's a poem inspired by some archeological discoveries in Egypt, whose main message is that no matter how vast or powerful an empire is, all that will remain---over time---are ruins, if at all. Not entirely irrelevant; although maybe not quite in line with what this board usually discusses.
- abiox 9y agoi get where it's from - i guess to me the theme is more about hubris. in the sense it was quoted here, it could apply to basically any artifact one encounters.
- igravious 9y agoPerhaps the more, um, hip version speaks to you? “On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” That includes you, me, emperors and empires.
- abiox 9y agoi imagine that many romans could never picture an proper end to the empire (perhaps just as many modern citizens presume their own national perpetuity), but this artifact doesn't seem to embody any particular sentiment of hubris. referencing ozymandias with respect to any old artifact seems to miss the point of the poem. imho, at least. in a thousand years, will someone quote ozymandias whilst sifting through the ruins of a forgotten toronto housing subdivision? would it be apropos?
- igravious 9y agoI take your point – I guess not, no.
- njharman 9y agoThe Roman Empire is glorified, with some justification, as one of the greatest empires that ever existed and the source (with classic Greece) of western civilization. In a way that Toronto or Canada never will be. Qualitative differences, sometimes matter. Also, from what I've read, Romans were complaining that catastrophe was about to happen all the time.