71. Prologue III

With the death of Rome and her son
The world passed onto a new age.
Greece gave us democracy.
Rome gave us republic.
Philosophy and science
Made the world real.
Thousand year empires disappear
Into the ancient dust and ruins of the past.
Religious service
Turned cathedrals gothic
As they threw out old gods
In place of saints and symbols.
Dynasties pass
As Ozymandias statues of Zeus and Athena wear and erode.
Slowly eaten away by acidic rain.
Leaders rise up then they fall
Only to bring in new ones.
“King of kings am I,” the dragon said.
Then came a Greek
Saying “He is dead.”
“King of kings am I,” The Greek one said.
That all changed
With Rome’s crown on her head.
“Queen of Queens, am I,” Rome herself once said.
Now, with Caesar,
She rests her head.
No one worships these forgotten gods.
They play on in fantasy
As ghosts of bygone times.
I wish to stay to play with them
But the muse begs me to push on.
Future pages await.
There are new Ozymandiases to behold
Otherwise they’ll remain unwritten.

54. Alexander the Great

Years later

During King Philip’s reign

A prince was born.

“This boy will be great,”

The soothsayer said,

“He shall be called a lion”

“The he-goat king of Javan.”

“Macedonia is too small for his ambitions.”

A horse came from Thessaly

He tamed it

His father was amazed.

Aristotle came to teach him

In the palace of Nymphs.

The lion gave the book that guided

The Macedonian lion to his destiny.

The young cub grew.

His father sent him off to hunt

When a new prospect came for love and other things.

“My son,”

He said to the boy,

“Macedonia is too small for your ambitions.”

“Leave this country.”

“Fulfill your destiny.”

With that he went back to his new concubine.

From out of the shadows

Philip died.

Called from his wilderness

He took the throne.

His attacks to east and west

Brought a final peace to his Balkan homeland.

Athena, Ares and their friends

Fell to their knees

When they saw him in their land.

Zeus adopted him at Olympus

Handing him his lightning fury.

“Greece is too small for you my boy,”

Zeus whispered in his ear.

He pointed eastward

Where the sleeping dragon lay.

“You have a duty to your people”

“To slay that evil dragon.”

“Go out.”

“Conquer the world.”

Racing eastward on his trusty ox-head-steed he cut the dragon to pieces

Eagerly thrashing at Gordium’s famous knot.

From Anatolia to Egypt

He raced

Where he gave the Nile a thinker’s light.

He pushed the dreaded serpent back.

Charging the ram in great rage

Hunting the dragon’s dreaded servant.

From Pella to the Indus

Shattering Media and Persia’s horns

Proclaiming himself the king of these mighty kings.

When his conquered people stood up out of the dust

They asked who it was that came

So that he can be properly worshipped as a god.

“Alexander,” was the reply

From the lion in all his armored glory

Then he collapsed.

53. The Rise of Macedon

After the war

Greece fell into turmoil.

Ares,

Athena

All of their allies

Fought for dominance.

Brother against brother.

Greek against Greek.

Ares sold out his countrymen

For a small victory.

Athena was angry for that.

Zeus did nothing to help.

He knew what was coming.

Fate told him a great man would come

To settle everything.

For years the gods made war

As people in the north

Watched.

They called themselves Greeks too

But they looked down on the barbarian southerners.

They had problems of their own.

There was fighting in their land.

Their neighbors gave them problems

While they were in the midst of a civil war.

They were in trouble

A king named Phil arose

To fulfill the prophecy Fate bestowed on Zeus.

Climbing over the fighting and paranoia

Raising his own army

Defeating his neighbors

Uniting the people.

When his work was done in his own land

He looked to the barbarians to the south.

“These stupid men,” he said.

“They need to be taught a lesson.”

“They know nothing about civilized life.”

So pointing his sword he said “Onward!”

Marching south to still the warring gods.

42. The Dark Ages of Greece

The age of heroes and marble men

Came to an end

After the fall of Troy

Culture collapsed

Darkness took over the land.

Weeds grew among ancient temples

As thrones were abandoned by kings.

Palaces fell to the ground

As marble men

Eroded from their pedestals.

The armies disbanded leaving the comforting barracks.

The river of trade slowly dwindled to a trickle.

The temples went unfinished

With none to raise up Athena.

None to exalt Zeus.

No prayers to mother Hera

And none to shining Apollo

Where did these proud, vibrant people go?

To Anatolia

Where they waited out this cold, uncertain time

In the warm weather flowing in from the Greek Sea.

While they reveled in the ancient past

The glories of old Odysseus

The glorious fall of Troy.

Still, things were bubbling

Under the Greek mainland’s surface

Geometric pottery

Started directing paths

To and Iron Age revival.