"VATICAN CITY, Italy (AP) -- The Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs in the necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday after nearly a year of restoration work." CNN.com

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"All your bias are belong to us." Ara Pacis
"A witty saying proves nothing." Voltaire

Looks like by shutting it up in a hole in the ground, Constantine ended up preserving it for posterity.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Law of Unintended Consequences textbook case.

The cultural transition between paganism and Christianity has long been a favorite subject of mine...

Amazing find!

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"Call me old-fashioned, but I think fire is magic. And it scares me a lot."

--The State

It is rather magnificent.
I hope some day the Middle East will be peaceful enough that they will be able to do an excavation of the Temple Mound, AKA The Dome of the Rock.

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Mine too, especially for northern Europe (and Scotland in particular). I especially like the way that various ancient gods (with their associated festivals, feasts and traditions) were mapped on to christian saints. Many pagan beliefs were still commonplace in the Scottish Highlands up until very recent times, you know, despite the area being christianised for over 1500 years.

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I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, was in no way fair comment and was motivated purely by malice. I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.

Somebody tried to do it secretly a few decades ago if I remember correctly, but... they weren't very good at being secretive.
Here's basically what happened:

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

I’ve been studying the reverse effect brought on by modern times, and I’m also interested in the adaptation of past religious figures who have been converted into modern-day “superior beings from outer space” characters in sci-fi stories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day...gious_allegory

http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/cyborg.htm

Ravens Cry. There's a pretty good chance of the Dome falling to an earthquake in that area. I won't get into the historical nuances, but a subsequent excavation would be very interesting in many fields. That's certainly one of the most hotly contested archeological sites in the world, and many nations would have an interest in restorations there. Nuff said. pete

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A third rate theory forbids
A second rate theory explains after the fact
A first rate theory predicts...A. Lomonosov