Italy’s Two Thousand Years of History

One might say, How many times can you see ancient ruins? For me, the thought-provoking bit is seeing how over the centuries, one culture builds physically on top of another. Foundations upon foundations, houses on top of old roads on top of old wells, as if completely unaware of what lies beneath

Excavation underneath the Bologna library

Across ages and civilizations, the present literally stands atop of the past. This seems to happen especially often to churches and temples, maybe because there are so many of them? Sometimes there is a line of continuity, like St. Peter’s Basilica or this church in the Forum, standing on the foundation of a Roman temple

Note the church’s entrance, about 15 feet above original ground level. When the church was built in the 9th century, the Forum was buried by 15 feet of Tiber’s sediment

In one of Asimov’s Foundation sequels, the main character refuses to believe that records of Earth would be lost over the course of 20,000 years. But seeing how quickly seemingly eternal, massive stone constructions — like that of Rome — disintegrate, any other outcome seems unthinkable.