Podchef's Gastrocast Podcast

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The podcast about cooking, food, and the politics of what we eat.

Repetitious History

As I stood at the Propane filling station yesterday watching three times more money flow into my steel cylinders I was struck by the paradox that throughout history War is supposed to heap the victor with spoils. And beyond even that, it is supposed to bolster the economy of the war mongering nation. So at what point in history did it become mandatory to pour fortunes into rebuilding the nations one goes to war with? How does that benefit the citizenry of the warring nation? Shouldn't that be incentive enough not to go to war--not that we can't afford to annihilate another regime, we can't afford to replace and maintain it adinfinitum due to the backbreaking sacrifice of the people we do it in the name of.
So I watched more hard won cash spill into the tank of my efficient, but old car later in the day. It must have been the fumes, or the dizziness caused by spending double what I did the same time and place last year, but I began to think of Ancient Rome.

Is it just me or does the Iraq War remind anybody else of Rome's Conquest of the Dacians?

Dacia was in present day Romania (hmm. . .Rome ania. . . .)(here played by Iraq). They were a rival and subject of many campaigns and skirmishes along the expanding Roman empire's border. What is more is they held resources Rome wanted. The Emperor Domitian (played here by the part of Bush sr.) attacked but didn't exactly lay waste to the Dacian stronghold. An uneasy and deceptive peace reigned for almost a decade. Meanwhile Regime Change and an empreror later, Trajan decides to finish the job (here played by GeeDub). Trajan is determined to wipe the Dacian's off the map, and he does but after horrid loss of Roman life. He had to track down the Dacian King (Decebalus--here played by Saddam) who fled the destruction. However, his war brings the empire expansion and wealth. Gold and Silver (here played by Oil) flood into the coffers of the Government. Trajan (and presumably his cronies) spend wildly in self absorbed glory. He expanded the Forum, but was not content. He needed more gold and silver, more war. So he invaded present day Iran (here played by Iran). These lands proved too difficult to hold onto. Sure there was booty, to be plundered (The Romans even knew about Crude Oil) but the skirmishes were wearing the empire down.

Regime Change and the Wonderful Hadrian (of Wall fame) enters the scene (here played by the sucessor of impeachment?). Realizing the empire is far too weak, and the cost of maintaing bloated boundries far too costly, Hadrian pulls back on all fronts. He sets up well defined borders. Puts his Army to work rebuilding the nation and maintaining the shrunken borders (hence the Wall across Britannia). What is more, realising the people of Rome (the empire and City) had suffered, he embarked on rebuilding the infastructure and morale of his country. Prosperity and happiness reigned and foreign policy was strong.

Maybe it's just the fumes.

by: ChefNeal at 09/26/05 14:05 | link | comments (4)|
ancient rome, trajan, dacia

Comments:

#1  28 September 2005 - 22:34

 

Nice post, you paid much more attention in school than I did.

rustymadgal

#2  29 September 2005 - 04:14

 

As much as I'd like to stock it up to being awake and not stoned through much of school, unemployment really has it's benefits. With a satellite dish, I can be the armchair historian and social anthropologist my grades prevented me from being.

ChefNeal

#3  29 September 2005 - 07:19

 

Neal,

Good post. The empire is beginning to weaken at its center.

I loved social anthropology in college. I was particularly interested in what people ate, and how food traveled from one part of the world to another, e.g. Indian corn or masa introduced to Eastern Europe takes hold in Romania as "Mamaliga," or cornmeal mush and becomes an all purpose staple in their diet.

Espahan

#4  29 September 2005 - 15:12

 

My specialty--although I love Ancient culture and the cuisine of Rome--was Mediaeval life: particulary the food and marketing systems. As technologically advanced as we think ourselves, socially not much has changed in all this time.
I wish I had access to the old floppy disks or even my hard copy essays from back then to refesh my mind on all the hours of research I did on the stuff. . . .

ChefNeal

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