<
https://theconversation.com/fallen-ancient-civilizations-show-us-why-we-must-not-ignore-climate-warnings-241622>
"In 1177BC, Amurapi, the last king of Ugarit in modern-day Syria, wrote in
cuneiform on baked clay to the Hittite emperor Suppiluliuma II: “My father
behold, the enemy’s ships have come; my cities were burned, and they did evil
things in my country.” Soon, both the Hittite and Ugaritic kingdoms were lost
to history.
More than 2,000 years later, in AD822, an artisan was carving Altar L, a
monument of succession as Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat passed the rulership of the
Maya kingdom of Copan in modern Honduras to Ukit Took. At some point, he
dropped his chisel and left his work of political art unfinished.
Within the next eight years, the institutions of government in Copan had
dissolved. And by the 10th century the last few squatters had abandoned the
ghost city, with its palaces and temples swallowed by the forest.
Jumping forward to 1521, Cuauhtemōc, the last Aztec emperor, sent a desperate
emissary to the Tarascan empire to the west, an archenemy of the Aztecs. They
went to raise reinforcements to battle the army of the Spanish conquistador
Hernán Cortés, which had laid siege to the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.
The first emissaries were sacrificed and sent to the afterlife. The second
diplomatic mission came bearing gifts for the new Tarascan emperor, Tangaxuan
II, such as crossbows and swords captured from the conquistadors. The weapons
piqued the emperor’s curiosity, so he sent a delegation to Tenochtitlan to see
if the untrustworthy Aztecs were telling the truth.
But the Tarascans never arrived. They were met by refugees who told them to
turn back as there was nothing but the smell of death in the Aztec city. Both
Cuauhtemōc, Tangaxuan II, and their empires met horrific deaths at the hands of
Cortés.
Like the bronze age people of the Middle East, the great empires of
Mesoamerica, and thousands of other peoples whose lives and nations now lay
buried in the earth, we too are failing to react to the warning signs that
could make the difference to whether humanity survives."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
