The reflex is as involuntary as it is natural: If the flame were ever to spread through the unstable tangle of the collapsed empire, the inferno would be awesome.

Mr. Lukashenko's agreement with Mr. Yeltsin, intended to help Russia restore a portion of its collapsed empire, ended up serving mostly as an illustration of the growing influence inside the Kremlin of liberals loath to be too closely identified with Belarus.

Once representatives of an imperial Moscow, they are now the frightened remnants of a collapsed empire and fear revived nationalisms long suppressed by Soviet force.

The firm soon enjoyed success when it was named counsel to the trustee in the bankruptcy proceedings involving the collapsed empire of Ivar Kreuger, the "Swedish Match King."

Debts left behind by runaway German property developer Juergen Schneider far outweigh the assets of his collapsed empire, his creditors heard Tuesday.

He called for sending about $1 billion or $2 billion now in the military budget to aid the collapsed Soviet empire.

Byzantine Crete had been seized from the collapsed empire in 1211 by Venice, and Byzantine artistic traditions continued long after the Ottoman conquest of the last Byzantine successor state in 1461.

Like immigrants of the past, the Jews from Russia, Ukraine and other places in the collapsed Soviet empire bring skills, dedication and hope.

And which was more important - the founding of a collapsed empire or the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world?

Despite the subsequent focus of history on the Renaissance in Western Europe, ethnic Greek artists and artisans across the collapsed empire from Asia Minor to Venice continued their work.