Did Rome Ever Truly Fall?

 

A couple weeks ago now, I had the opportunity to do some urban exploring in our nation's capitol. This was not my first time visiting DC, but it was only my second, and the first time had been multiple years ago.

I could visit more often. Its not like I don't only live ninety minutes away. But other than visiting a couple very specific museums, I'm not sure I really like the idea of spending much time there. Especially after this last visit.

Now, the above photo is not mine. I got it off the internet. But I wanted a good, clear shot of the Lincoln Memorial.

Cuz here's the thing. I'm not gonna go on a rant about our nations founders and the weird and creepy cultish things some of them may or may not have been involved in. But someone, somewhere along the way, had some really weird and creepy fantasies in their heads.

For starters, the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated in 1922, is exactly a Greek temple. In an era of prohibition of alcohol, Billy Sunday evangelism, and women being expected to cover up very thoroughly, somebody decided the best way to honor Lincoln was to build a 19 foot statue of him in a Greek temple. Why?

Want proof? Try the Temple of the Greek god Zeus/the Roman god Jupiter

 

How about a closeup of the two statues?

Lincoln:

Zeus/Jupiter:

Accident? I can't see how.

Did the designers simply like Greek architecture and think it was cool? According to Wikipedia, more or less. But I find this debatable.

Because here's the next thing. Take a look at the one photo here that I do own. See what is engraved over Lincoln's head.

 My camera takes really poor quality photos sometimes, especially in bad light.But what it says is this:

IN THIS TEMPLE
AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
IS ENSHRINED FOREVER

The quote is oddly specific. Especially after I went to the Sight & Sound Theatre in Lancaster the very next day and watched their production of 'Daniel'. Imagine standing in the Lincoln Memorial and this song comes on:

 There is none like Babylon. We are one.

I kid you not. Even just standing in the memorial, without even knowing this music yet, staring at a giant statue, in a Grecian temple, crowned by an engraving specifically admitting that it was a temple, I could feel the darkness in the room.

And don't get me started on the obelisk, built in the 1850s, that stands just across the reflecting pool. At the height of western expansion, during the heat of pre-Civil War tension, we decided to immortalize our first president with a piece of architecture from a civilization built on slavery, including slavery of the Lord's chosen people.

One might also consider the vast number of pagan mythological symbols on our currency, the Roman deity that guards New York, or the way Rome was a direct influence for American government. 

We, like the Romans, adopted a republic for our government. We, like the Romans, assimilated Greek culture and architecture. Our government is full of Latin slogans. We, like the Romans, are an empire built on global military conquest. Like the Roman games in the coliseums, we find our entertainment in competitive sports, violent movies, and political scandals. We, unlike the Romans, are a very internally divided government, primarily in two very extremely incompatible opposite political parties.

And again, I'm not saying that our country was built by shadow cults. But I'm also not saying it wasn't. What I am saying is that history is written by the victors, and American history has a lot of really weird stuff going on. All I know is that when you look around, Rome sure doesn't feel very dead yet.

Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

“This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. Your Majesty, you are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed all mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds in the sky. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

“After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.