The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

I was watching some documentary tonight on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which I realize makes me a Geek Royale. Anyway, the narrator was describing this researcher who was one of a handful of people who could read cuneiform who was primarily responsible for leading this research. At one point, she visits some museum in Britain where there are these giant Bas Relief sculptures that once lined the walls of this ancient king who lived hundreds of years before Christ. The reliefs depict daily life in the region, with men in chariots and other details.

Seeing these reliefs made me realize that these were rather permanent depictions of how life was over 2000 years ago. You could easily see the modes of transportation and the style of dress worn by everyday folks. Sculpted into rock, rock which has survived over 2000 years to stand where they do today, in a museum to be viewed by 21st century humans.

And then it occurred to me - what are we leaving behind that will have anywhere near the permanence of these Bas Relief sculptures? What tangible evidence are we going to leave behind for those who come 2000 years from now, looking to find out details of life in the high-tech 21st century. It would seem to me that almost all of what we have now exists on a bit of silicon on a chip in some device, powered by a battery that almost certainly won’t play 2000 years from now.

But those Bas Reliefs. They’ll still be in that museum in Britain, telling the tales of what is then a 4000 year old history - and leading one to wonder what happened to those who came after, those who lived the lives of luxury, those whose lives were so easy that they left nothing tangible behind. Including this blog.