Fate of empires

One thing that impressed me on this trip was history. You could be sitting in a coffee shop that was built on the ruins of something from the Ottoman era, which in turn may have been built on something from the Crusader era, which was built on a Mameluke ruin, which was built on a Byzantine ruin which was built on a Roman or Hasmonian ruin which was built on something from the Israelite monarchy era destroyed by the Babylonians. And that might have been on top of ruins from the Canaanite period – or even earlier! Some of the Roman ruins are impresive indeed – and Herod the Great was no wimp when it came to building projects either. Massive marble columns, raised platforms acres in size, bath houses, swimming pools, aquaducts and water storage. But as mighty and glorious as it once was, it has all collapsed and broken into shards and dust now. Really truly sobering when you start thinking about what the probable fate of current empires will be...