Featured in this post is the second lecture within my current trilogy on Universal history.
The first lecture in the series probed the growth of the oligarchical system via a network of cults throughout the Babylonian empire as it transitioned to Persia as a seat of a globally extended empire. Within the context, the story was told of a small nucleus of humanist resistance which emerged in the wake of a new form of government and culture established by the figure of Solon of Athens and the Ionian city states that waged a miraculous freedom struggle against Persia’s vast hordes of mercenaries and slaves.
It was through Solon’s example of a living philosopher king which inspired all later humanist factions within Ancient Greece and beyond sought to emulate in later generations- not the least of which was Socrates’ student Plato who created his Academy specifically for that purpose.
In this lecture second lecture, we pick up where we left off by reviewing the reality shock faced by the Persian-centered oligarchy upon its defeat under the hand of a student trained by leaders of Plato’s academy- Alexander the Great.
Upon the dissolution of Alexander’s empire into factionalized zones of influence after only 13 years of existence, the oligarchy and their network of cults required safer terrain from which to operate. It was this intention which animated the severing of the 250 year alliance that been maintained between Carthage and the Roman Republic. With the destruction of this alliance during the 3rd Punic War, Rome become ripe to host the oligarchical parasite and its network of ruling cults. Despite the efforts of a few Platonic humanists like Cicero, Rome’s fate was sealed as she plunged into a new paradigm of hedonism and zero sum thinking.
