We build monuments as a tribute to the greatest men in history. Their faces are imprinted on a statue or canvas to remind us who these men were and what they accomplished. Politicians, athletes, war hero’s, and even the occasional evil man such as Karl Marx get a statue, a biography, or their face carved into a mountain. Their names pop up in lectures and podcasts and textbooks. Rightly so. Their monuments remind us of their monumental life. These indispensable men and their ideas created the gravitational center of society.
A civilization is not built on ideas alone. Ideas inspire men to great works of art and illustrious architecture. Art and architecture are physical manifestations of the prominent ideas of every civilization. They are sermons on canvas and stone. The art and architecture display for all to see the gravitational center of any given civilization.
What good is a grand civilization built upon ideas, art, and architecture if it’s not connected? Rome was grandiose in ide…
