Like humans, civilizations are born, develop to maturity,
grow old, and die. To use a different analogy, civilizations, following the
seasons of the year, blossom in springtime, ripen in summer, slacken in autumn,
and disintegrate in winter.
If we look at Christendom as a civilization, we may say
that it first budded in AD 1 when Jesus Christ was born, started to ripen in
380 when it became the sole official religion of the Roman Empire, began to decay
in 1216 with the death of Pope Innocent 3rd, then disintegrated into Europe in
1648.
We may apply this same analogy to Exuberant Olympianity
(1648-2008) as a civilization. Let us say that it budded in 1648, ripened between
1815 (end of Napoleon) and 1914, decayed until 2008, then began its own terminal
disintegration.