Soiled City on a Hill: Difference between revisions

A city or civilization that is destroyed after growing so [[We Have Become Complacent|complacent]], [[And Man Grew Proud|hubris-laden]], and/or [[Wretched Hive|corrupt]] that it is [[It Is Beyond Saving|beyond redemption]]. Usually the agent of destruction is [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|divine retribution]] or [[The Scourge of God|a scourge of God]] but also can be the result of [[Call It Karma|Karmic justice]], [[GaiasGaia's Vengeance|nature's revenge]], [[Knight Templar|Knights Templar]], or even [[Hanlon's Razor|human]] [[Finagle's Law|error]].

The name refers to [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/City_on_a_hill:City on a hill|the City on a Hill]], an early symbol of American [[Utopia]].

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Numenor#History |Numenor]] in [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. After Sauron is taken captive by the Numenoreans, he converts them to Melkor worship and tricks them into sailing to Valinor and violating the Ban on setting foot there. As a result, the Valar call upon Eru Iluvatar and he destroys Numenor with a giant wave, sinking it beneath the sea.

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Ys |The sunken city of Ys]] in French folklore and [[Celtic Mythology]]. It was built below sea level and surrounded by a dike with a gate that was opened to allow access for ships during low tide. Ys was destroyed by being sunk under the waves as punishment for the [[Everything's Better With Princesses|Princess]] [[Royal Brat|Dahut's]] and the other inhabitants' debauchery. (Although, in one version of the legend, Ys sank as a result of the Princess Dahut [[Alcohol -Induced Idiocy|getting drunk]] [[What an Idiot!|and opening the gate at high tide during a storm]].)

* The medieval city of [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Vineta |Vineta]] was, according to legend, a rich and powerful port on the Baltic Sea located near the present-day border of Germany and Poland. The sinfulness of its inhabitants led [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|God to destroy it with thunderbolts]] and sink it underneath a storm tide.

* On the Arabian Peninsula, there was [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars:Iram of the Pillars|Iram of the Pillars]]--the "Atlantis of the Sands". In Islamic legend, Iram of the Pillars (also known as Ubar) was a city of untold riches that was buried under the desert sands as punishment for defying God. Long thought to be a myth, satellite photos and recent archeological excavations have indicated such a city probably existed until around 300 AD.

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Rungholt |Rungholt]] was a thriving German merchant city on the North Sea coast until it was destroyed by a storm tide in 1362. Legend attributed its destruction to the rampant greed of its citizens and acts of sacrilege against God.

* The low-lying Dutch city of [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeftinghe |Saeftinghe]] was a prosperous trading center from the 14th to the 16th century until much of its surrounding land was lost to a disasterous flood in 1570. The city itself was abandoned in 1584 when, during the Dutch War for Independence, Dutch soldiers were forced to destroy the dike that protected Saeftinghe resulting in its sinking into the marshy bogs of the Schelde River. In [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeftinghe_legend:Saeftinghe legend|Dutch folklore]], Saeftinghe was an ornately rich but avaricious city that ultimately paid for its [[Greed|greed]] by [[Death By Materialism|sinking into the salty marshlands]] after being cursed by [[Our Mermaids Are Different|a merman for refusing to set his captured mermaid wife free.]]