In the biblical tradition, Nebuchadnezzar is troubled by a dream of an immense statue: the head was of fine gold, the chest and arms of silver, the loins and thighs of bronze, the legs of iron, the feet of iron and clay. A stone hit the feet, destroying the statue.
These four qualified ages can be linked to historical eras:
– The head of gold is the Babylonian kingdom
– The silver chest and arms the Persian Empire
– The bronze belly and thighs the Hellenistic Greece
– The iron legs the Roman Empire
– Finally the feet of iron and clay our contemporary era
Iron and clay do not mix, which reveals at the same time the extreme hardness, fragility and absurdity of the end of the cycle. The expression colossus with feet of clay comes from there; it evokes a power that seems invulnerable built on a fragile foundation.
We would be experiencing this end of the cycle.