The Shifting Power of the World’s Largest Cities Visualized Over 4,000 Years

Open Culture: The Shifting Power of the World’s Largest Cities Visualized Over 4,000 Years (2050 BC-2050 AD)

"When Rome fell…." The expression seems designed to conjure the Tarot card Tower that illustrates it, a sudden attack, a reckoning. “Fell,” in the case of most ancient empires, means declined, changed, and transformed over centuries. As all great cities do, Rome suffered many violent shocks during its fall, as it transitioned from a pagan to a Christian empire. The sacking of Rome in 410 left Romans reeling, trying to make meaning from upheaval. They found it in the pagan religion of their ancestors.

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WNU Editor: Two things that I picked out from this post. Rome has been around for a long time. And the size of the city is directly related to the power it wields.