The Greek and Roman empires most certainly have not existed the entire time, and you’re talking about extremely long timelines. Even if there was a sitting Roman emperor for the past 2500 years and the entire period had not seen a single invasion succeed, you’re talking about a maximum 50 year reign for each emperor. That’s 50 lifetimes. Now consider that many rulers during that period only lasted a few *months* and you might start to see the problem.
Try to find a building in New York City that’s older than 100 years. Most of them just get torn down for being old and decrepit, and that’s with our current engineering technology, using machines and materials that could never have existed in ancient times. Throw in regular earthquakes and other natural disasters that cause further damage.
Thats pretty much what happened to the Roman Colluseum. Several political leaders considered it a ruin worth only it’s scrap materials, and used that stone for other building projects to save money. It certainly wasn’t *usable* for its original purpose even 1500 years ago.
The Greek and Roman empires most certainly have not existed the entire time, and you’re talking about extremely long timelines. Even if there was a sitting Roman emperor for the past 2500 years and the entire period had not seen a single invasion succeed, you’re talking about a maximum 50 year reign for each emperor. That’s 50 lifetimes. Now consider that many rulers during that period only lasted a few *months* and you might start to see the problem.
Try to find a building in New York City that’s older than 100 years. Most of them just get torn down for being old and decrepit, and that’s with our current engineering technology, using machines and materials that could never have existed in ancient times. Throw in regular earthquakes and other natural disasters that cause further damage.
Thats pretty much what happened to the Roman Colluseum. Several political leaders considered it a ruin worth only it’s scrap materials, and used that stone for other building projects to save money. It certainly wasn’t *usable* for its original purpose even 1500 years ago.
Since people have answered the other part well I’ll try to explain the second part of the question. No Greece and Italy did not exist the entire time. Athens home of the Parthenon was a city state which ended up conquered numerous times the Macedonians, the Romans, the Byzantines (Eastern half of the roman empire after a split), the Ottomans all ruled or conquered the city at points. With the parthenon being partially destroyed while under Ottoman by an attack from the city state of Venice. Which is a nice transition to the fall of Rome. Rome was invaded several times even nearly being abandoned when the aquaducts (the cities water supply was cutoff). The Colosseum was damaged by earthquakes and fire with the Romans not repairing it due to their situation. The Roman empire eventually ended up with small regional powers like the city state of venice. Rome for much of this time was ruled by the Pope as part of the Papel States. There is a bit more, but basically no Greece, and Italy/Rome did not exist the entire time.
Since people have answered the other part well I’ll try to explain the second part of the question. No Greece and Italy did not exist the entire time. Athens home of the Parthenon was a city state which ended up conquered numerous times the Macedonians, the Romans, the Byzantines (Eastern half of the roman empire after a split), the Ottomans all ruled or conquered the city at points. With the parthenon being partially destroyed while under Ottoman by an attack from the city state of Venice. Which is a nice transition to the fall of Rome. Rome was invaded several times even nearly being abandoned when the aquaducts (the cities water supply was cutoff). The Colosseum was damaged by earthquakes and fire with the Romans not repairing it due to their situation. The Roman empire eventually ended up with small regional powers like the city state of venice. Rome for much of this time was ruled by the Pope as part of the Papel States. There is a bit more, but basically no Greece, and Italy/Rome did not exist the entire time.
We value these ancient things more now as they are older and we live in a world of relative abundance so we can give a crap about such things. Most ancient structures have suffered from locals repurposing the materials for whatever else. It might be more relevant for a structure to last long if people arent around to fuck it up, thinking about south american temples, Macchu Picchu, Ankor Wat.
We value these ancient things more now as they are older and we live in a world of relative abundance so we can give a crap about such things. Most ancient structures have suffered from locals repurposing the materials for whatever else. It might be more relevant for a structure to last long if people arent around to fuck it up, thinking about south american temples, Macchu Picchu, Ankor Wat.
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