Living in Postmodern Times

by Brian Schwartz

They've written a lot about the glories of ancient Greece, and the mythic but very real earlier city of Mycenae, where proud Agamemnon reigned. But not much about what came after, when the palaces lay in ruin, the pride and glory gone, the once-great halls and vaulted archways the domain of jungle plants and wild beasts. But farmers lived among the ruins. They knew that something great had gone before, but not what. They knew that humans like themselves had built those walls. Or perhaps they thought they were built by giants, or demons, or gods. They could see the painted walls and the inscriptions, perhaps found the scrolls scattered in the dust, but they knew not what they meant. Maybe they used some of the massive stones to build their small barns and hovels, shelter them as they dreamt of petty harvests, puny plans.

by Giovanni Battista Piranesi