The beginning of the downhill: Could they have possibly imagined where their country would be in 400 years when Iranians dared to concoct such flamboyant beauty?

When Shah Abbas II wined and dined foreign dignitaries at the mind-bogglingly beautiful Chehel Sotoon palace in the early 1600’s, Iran was a power to be reckoned with.

When I arrived here a few hours ago, Iran was writhing in pain in the dustbin of history as it has for at least two centuries.

Chehel Sotoon means "40 columns". Forty is a revered number in Islam. There were only 20 columns. The reflection in the pond provided the additonal 20 columns.

As I walked the same iwan where European ambassadors came to pay homage, it suddenly occurred to me that the grand time Shah Abbas was having was really the beginning of the downhill. Europe was galloping out of its own nightmare; Enlightenment was already in its birthing pains; and a ragtag band of religious zealots had just become the first of New World immigrants who would eventually control a third of the world's economy.

But Iran? If the murals inside the palace are any indication, the king and his cohorts were either fighting boundary wars with medieval weapons or swirling in silk in their harems.

Wine, women and war. It was like an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man, except this was no fiction. Europe was waking up as Iran was going to sleep.

“This was just about the time they lost their khod-bavari”—Persian: belief in one’s self, Gohar, one of the guides at Chehel Sotoon, told me.

“When they went and saw Europe they lost themselves. In response, they started copying instead of being themselves—just like the Iranian youth of today. It’s just a lot worse today.”

A 40-column palace and a swarm of royal sycophants or a teetering wooden bed under the shade and peace of mind? I'd choose the latter over the former any time.