Et tu, iPhone?

Editor's note: I'm really swamped with work right now -- two massive projects, the biggest of the year, are both due the first week of June. As a result, the blog will be updated sparingly during the next three weeks. I apologize to my regular reader(s) -- but I offer a money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied.

I don't know why this story fascinated me so -- divers in the Rhone near the city of Arles have recovered a trove of ancient artifacts, including this life-sized bust of an aging Julius Caesar that may date to 46 B.C., roughly two years before the dictator's death.

Aside from the obvious historical significance of this previously sunken treasure, I'm struck by how it serves to humanize this legendary leader. And really, that's literally what Caesar is -- legendary. We have no "proof" of what he did or how he lived, other than historical record, based largely on stories handed down from one generation to the next, and often transcribed by people who lived centuries after he walked the Earth.

But look at the fine points in this sculpture. The wrinkles, the receding hairline, the lines of time etched on all of our faces, recreated in hauntingly vivid detail. This is better than a photograph -- it's a three-dimensional representation that helps us better understand the man himself, a record of Caesar upon which you can lay your hands. Nobody's telling you what Caesar looked like -- you're seeing it, from any angle you wish to take.

Put it this way -- if a similar bust of Jesus were to be unearthed, we might have to declare a week-long holiday to celebrate, and the line of people hoping to see it would stretch from Jerusalem to Iowa City and back.

I guess what really strikes me is that we consider our modern ways to be so superior in every aspect, but especially in the field of communication. Everybody's got a cell phone camera, and everything from grandma's birthday party to baby's first BM is quickly posted to YouTube to share with the world, captured for posterity and dutifully recorded in the annals of online history.

But you can't convince me that any video, picture or podcast can help me understand you better than this image of Caesar. Simplicity trumps modernity, even in 2008.