The Classical world offered inspiration and advancement to every fact of civilization imaginable. But what are their artists, their sculptors, their poets, their soldiers, and their kings when compared to their philosophers? Anywhere and any time one turns to in history they find the quiet struggle for artistic beauty and the louder clash of sword and shield. One may occasionally, though rarely, encounter the cacophony of grinding metal and hissing gas that accompanies the pursuit of mechanical and scientific endeavor. Almost never does one hear the true and pure silence of thought, the most delicate word of debate. Our Classical ancestors are so striking, in part, because they wrestled with the massive and intricate concepts that human beings have structured their entire societies and existences around. They dissected and then rebuilt the very framework of our world. From their lips and their pens sprang the university and the temple, the voting tablet, and the diadem. They fit the most dazzling marble sculptures and highest mountain peaks into the palm of their hand.

Antiquities
Ancient Roman