The text is based on the author's memories of a personal meeting in the summer of 1971 with L. N. Termen – physicist, inventor, musician, intelligence officer. The author reveals some details of the conversation that took place then with the legendary personality, in whose biography there are still many “blank spots”.

At the tipping point of epochs General N.N.Dukhonin (1876–1917), the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, had to perform the most arduous task: he had not only to reinforce the defense of warring Russia but he had at the same time to restrain influence of rebelling elements on the tired army. The rebelling elements promised to solve painful problems if Russia made the immediate peace with Germany and its allies. Having committed himself to the uncompromising struggle against the imminent anarchy Dukhonin kept his guard at the General Headquarters in Mogilev and ignored threats and blandishments originated in Red Petrograd. Relying on the human reason Dukhonin strove to avoid the bloodshed though he was aware that the odd come shortly days of the revolution would be charged with deadly dangers for him personally.

The text consists of two parts that represent a certain unity of fragments of mythological character and points of attraction of the interested public. Such interest is understandable, as through the world history there appeared a fascinating variety of plots and guesses bourn out of facts and tall tales about the Tower of Babel and the biblical Noah's Ark. Since the number of interpretations related to cultural artifacts is growing, the author has set himself the task of recalling the importance of the research results in this area, and paying tribute to the experts who helped clarify the real course of the events of the past, contributed in archeological research and decoding of ancient scripts.

In January of 1722 Czar Peter I affixed his signature on so called «Table of ranks». This original state act established three parallel ladders of ranks for civil, military, and court services in Russia. Components of the built vertical of ranks were united around the principle of permanent ascendancy of pretenders to certain peaks of bureaucratic career in accordance with length of personal service. Abrogation of this one of the most fundamental acts of autocracy was a natural sequence of revolutionary events of 1917. However the hidden impact of the ancient Czar’s decree, a reminder of the governing role of transformation its logic introduced in the society and armed forces was in different degrees felt for a long time. Most likely, in new Russia specialists of various profiles will express the attention to the ancient text in order to draw relevant conclusions required for understanding of the past problems and issues of current practice of state government.