[ the twenty-fifth ] / [ video ]
[Video switches on. The screen pans around a room belonging to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the Egyptian exhibit. There are momentary focuses on statuettes of Osiris and Iris. Eddie speaks behind the communicator, drawing his vowels out lazily, mimicking the documentary narrative voice.]
I’m hardly one for the infamous Ozymandias line-Percy Shelley was always a bit dramatic, wouldn’t you say?-but the general entropy of power draws my interest. Let’s take, for example, the largest power of the ancient world-the Achaemenid Persian empire-which reigned from 550 to 330 B.C. Throughout its history a pattern of power was established by the opportunistic and the pragmatic. Darius the Great is a prime example, having claimed relation to Achaemenes after the current king’s son died en route to Persia, and thus establishing status as the heir apparent through possibly unproven, or dare I say potentially forged? documents. Nevertheless, this was a significant political turning point that had sown the seeds of a genetic legacy. Curious thing, isn’t it? The world was changed because of a single moment seized. But then again, what empire hasn’t fallen on its knees before the opportunistic and pragmatic?
You’re welcome for this educational tidbit, by the way.
[He meanders, after stationing the communicator nearby, hands folded behind his back, before the collected ruins of the Mastaba Tomb of Perneb.]
Of course, the rival power to the Persian Empire was Egypt. Is it all making sense yet? The capital of Memphis fell in 525 B.C. following a ten-day siege. Five-Two-Five-Ten. Heh.
[On his left is the blue-tinted Sphinx of Amenhotep III. He halts, staring at it.]
Well. [Pause.] Hngh. That brings back memories.
[He looks at the sculpture a moment too long before walking back to cut video feed. All replies will be in voice, unless otherwise stated.]
I’m hardly one for the infamous Ozymandias line-Percy Shelley was always a bit dramatic, wouldn’t you say?-but the general entropy of power draws my interest. Let’s take, for example, the largest power of the ancient world-the Achaemenid Persian empire-which reigned from 550 to 330 B.C. Throughout its history a pattern of power was established by the opportunistic and the pragmatic. Darius the Great is a prime example, having claimed relation to Achaemenes after the current king’s son died en route to Persia, and thus establishing status as the heir apparent through possibly unproven, or dare I say potentially forged? documents. Nevertheless, this was a significant political turning point that had sown the seeds of a genetic legacy. Curious thing, isn’t it? The world was changed because of a single moment seized. But then again, what empire hasn’t fallen on its knees before the opportunistic and pragmatic?
You’re welcome for this educational tidbit, by the way.
[He meanders, after stationing the communicator nearby, hands folded behind his back, before the collected ruins of the Mastaba Tomb of Perneb.]
Of course, the rival power to the Persian Empire was Egypt. Is it all making sense yet? The capital of Memphis fell in 525 B.C. following a ten-day siege. Five-Two-Five-Ten. Heh.
[On his left is the blue-tinted Sphinx of Amenhotep III. He halts, staring at it.]
Well. [Pause.] Hngh. That brings back memories.
[He looks at the sculpture a moment too long before walking back to cut video feed. All replies will be in voice, unless otherwise stated.]