There is only one way to avoid the same demise of all prior civilizations and empires: get a clue*. *as defined by a certain philosophy that deals with Broader Survival
You are drawing a somewhat long bow in arguing for precedents in classical antiquity. I look rather to two more recent and virtually modern examples, both religious: Judaism and Calvinism. The former because it posits the permanent uniqueness - 'choseness by God' - of just one particular (presumably) ethnocentic group from among the human 'race' as a single entirety within itself; and the latter because it too similarly teaches the arbitrary election, both to damnation and hence to salvation in the act of double predestinarianism, again by the Deity - only this time, a new Deity. The latter case, salvation, comprises a particular, read 'exceptional', sectarian division within the Christian community. It is arguable that Calvinism is an even more pernicious manifestation of the same psychological pathology, since it proposes that one can act with utmost impunity, for example, even murder, and nonetheless, still be saved, since works have no bearing on the ultimate destiny of the individual. My actions, whether for good or for evil, do not matter. This emphasises to the point of the absurd, the arbitrary and capricious nature of God,. (Who not infrequently chooses one individual over and against another; for example Abraham over his brother (nephew?, the biblical text is inconsistent) Lot; Moses over Aaron; Jacob over Esau; Joseph over his brothers.) In the first, the process is skewed by dint of birthright, that is, by ethnicity, by blood; and in the second, by the intentional process, the will to believe a particular creed. Both have been formative and damaging influences on the American psyche. They militate against humanist universalism. My response - if there is such a being, a benevolent God, then humankind in its fullness must bear that God's 'image and likeness'.
