by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, CT Act I — Inheritance
When we think about the beginnings of civilization, our minds often leap to pyramids, kings and great cities. The real story may have begun somewhere far less dramatic. It may have begun with someone trying to remember how many sheep, or sacks of grain, or jars of...
by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, CT Act I — Inheritance
Few ancient cities have accumulated as many meanings as Babylon. Its name conjures a tower reaching towards heaven, its builders suddenly unable to understand one another. It recalls Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Captivity, the mysterious writing on the wall...
by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Carousel Ideas & Systems, CT Act I — Inheritance, Italy
Turin was not supposed to be the point. This was a Northern Italy trip with friends — Bill and Maura — the kind of people who have already seen most things, lived in most places, and are not easily impressed. Americans, but only technically so: twenty-three years...
by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, CT Act I — Inheritance
How do you govern people who speak different languages, worship different gods, and live thousands of kilometres apart? For much of human history, the answer was simple: you didn’t. Kingdoms grew only as far as a ruler could reasonably communicate, collect taxes...
by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, CT Act I — Inheritance
To understand the world is itself a form of power. Long before a ship reached the harbour of Alexandria, sailors knew they were approaching something remarkable. By day, a gleaming white tower rose above the Mediterranean horizon. By night, a great fire burned from...
by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Carousel Ideas & Systems, CT Act I — Inheritance, Greece, Recent
My working impression of Greece was embodied in the Vatican’s fresco The School of Athens by Raphael. In it, Socrates (left) argues in the crowd, Plato points upward toward higher truths beyond the visible world, and Aristotle, his hand held level, grounds philosophy...
