It Became a Symbol of the Bronze Age - Chapter 291



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Episode 291. Back to Seorabeolbu (2)

The weather in Seorabeolbu was clear and there was no wind.

And below, dozens of young men run around in their trousers.

“Hey Pass! Pass!”

The one shouting like that is Kang Seok.

When I first met Poongbaek, I was in my early twenties, but now I am in my fifties.

But as anyone who has served in the military knows, a sergeant major who is about to retire is likely to be the best foot volleyball player in his unit.

It’s the same now.

“Oh, you have to receive the ball with your head, with your head!”

To that, Mago from Sur answered.

“By the way, the word ‘pass-thru’ sounds like a Scythian word, not an Asadal one.”

That’s a fair point. English is a language belonging to the Germanic branch of the Indo-Aryan language family, and Scythian is considered to be the origin of this Indo-Aryan language family.

Now, future scholars will no longer need to worry about things like, ‘How did Asadal write English?’ because there is now a context that says, ‘Asadal interacted with Scythians!’

The chronological order is not correct?

Wouldn’t it be more plausible to say that the chronological order was off by a few years, rather than that it was spread by a future person named Poongbaek who knew English?

“It was made by Elder Poongbaek. It means he is asking for a ball.”

“Hoo….”

Mago suddenly thought about their language and the language of the Scythians. Often, when words with a Scythian feel appear, it is said that nine times out of ten they were created by the Fengbo.

“By the way, Margo, aren’t you wearing pants?”

“Those pants… please.”

But Margo didn’t say, ‘Isn’t that something that only Scythian barbarians wear?’ He was a man with that much discernment.

“…I don’t know. By the way, have you gotten used to Asadal?”

“Well, a little bit?”

Margot answered.

To be honest, at first, I had a hard time feeling affection for Asadal. He lived in Sur (Tyre), the brightest flower between Mesopotamia and Egypt, the first countries to create ‘civilization.’

Naturally, this remote country, where civilization had only just begun, could not have caught his eye.

Of course, the people of Asadal were eager to show off their culture to Mago.

-Ah, this is Asadalgeul. You can write all words using consonants and vowels.

-… Sur’s alphabet also follows the same principle.

-But I heard you can’t use difficult pronunciations?

-… It’s a pronunciation we don’t use, so it doesn’t exist.

When Asadal people say they are ‘islanders’, they usually mean the archipelago or Sindalbu.

And since there are no letters here, most people who see Asadal writing are surprised and say, ‘Wow! Is this language?’… but Mago was not like that.

So, the people of Seorabeolbu, who wanted to satisfy their patriotism, somehow mentioned Asadal’s great points.

-Now, look! This is a play!

-… Is that a play?

-… Something like that?

-Well, 100 years ago, there was a man named Homer on the island of Chios in Hellas.

-Hios Island, I don’t know for sure, but it’s a scary name.

-What are you talking about?

-What should I say… I have a feeling that so many famous heroes fight every day, but the people around them don’t seem to care much about it.

-?

-Then, one day, the god of the island suddenly declares, ‘I will no longer manage this island,’ and seems to have let go.

-…What are you talking about all of a sudden?

-I don’t know. As soon as I heard the name, that thought suddenly occurred to me… There must be something in the name.

Margo was momentarily taken aback by the sudden, long statement, but continued her story.

-Anyway, that Homer was a wandering poet who lived by begging for food, but he had a talent for writing and wrote down many different mythological stories.

Compared to those stories… these stories are a bit lacking.

After watching and , I was not satisfied with the Asadal play, which has a history of 30 years.

-Then, what about martial arts dramas? They stimulate something a bit peripheral.

-That’s just… kids’ play. You have to see the blood splatter.

-Then, how about the watermelon game?

-What’s fun about beating someone up with your fists? Why don’t you give them a knife?

-… Because if you get stabbed you die?

-That’s not fun.

-What about horse racing?

-It’s worse than chariot racing. Compared to the huge chariots made of bronze and gold racing against each other, isn’t horseback riding shabby?

Margo couldn’t enjoy most of these entertainments. Of course, it’s because he has a strong attachment to his hometown, but… the cultural gap is also big.

If we simply compare them in terms of ‘military power’.

East Asia is not greatly affected by the Mediterranean.

Asadal alone would be able to stand up to most Mediterranean countries. And even Asadal, if it were a country like Je or Jin, which are considered ‘strong countries’, it would probably be able to stand up to Assyria or Egypt.

But, if you look at it in terms of cultural power.

It is difficult for East Asia to keep up with the cultural power of the Aegean Sea.

Mesopotamia had already established city-states 3,500 years ago, Egypt was already building pyramids 2,000 years ago, and Homer appeared in Greece 100 years ago.

In such a situation, Mago can’t help but feel like civilization has literally regressed by hundreds of years. (It’s still better than Poongbaek, though. Poongbaek really did fall back thousands of years.)

Oh, but there was something surprising.

Kwaaaaang!

-Isn’t Asadal still cool?

The people of Seorabeolbu even went as far as Mokpo to demonstrate. And here, even Mago, a Surin, was surprised.

-Bar, Barca?

Sur cried out without realizing it. Of course, he did not call out the name of Elisha Barca (Titus), for Barca means ‘thunder and lightning’ in Phoenician.

The people of Seorabeolbu who saw that burst into laughter.

-This isn’t a Barca, it’s a Mokpo. It’s a weapon that completely destroys your opponent.

-Mokpo…?

In this part, Mago was definitely surprised. (Of course, it wasn’t a waste of gunpowder. Mago is a shipbuilder, so he should know what kind of weapons will be loaded on his ship.)

-I understand why Governor-General Poongbaek ordered the construction of such ‘fast’ ships in addition to merchant ships. He must have wanted to use such weapons.

-Right. And look at this.

The craftsman pulled and pulled the rope. At the end of it was a huge stone that required ten people to move.

-What on earth… .

-Look carefully.

At that moment.

Road to Doro- Road to Doro!

Swish-!

The big stone moves.

With just the power of one person.

Margo’s mouth fell open.

-What, what kind of mysterious magic is this?

-This allows you to move large objects with a small amount of force. It’s called a pulley.

-Oh… That’s true.

At this point, about 400 years before Archimedes was born, there were no pulleys in the Mediterranean world.

How was the pyramid made? It was made without pulleys, only with levers and weights.

Crazy Egyptians.

-Wouldn’t this allow us to build a bigger ship?

-… Indeed, that must be so.

Mago felt a little sick. Why didn’t Sur know what these Eastern barbarians(?) knew?

If they had that technology, even the Assyrians wouldn’t have been able to destroy the city of Sur so easily…

The craftsmen of Seorabeolbu who saw Mago lost in thought only then felt their patriotism satisfied and laughed.

-Yes, this is Asadal!

Just looking at their appearance, they looked like people who were born and raised in Asadal.

When Mago heard that the Seorabeol clan had actually only recently entered Asadal, she felt somewhat bewildered.

But whether it’s Doreun or Mokpo, in the end it comes down to ‘technical skills’.

Technological prowess may amaze people, but it does not capture their hearts.

What captures the heart is cultural power.

Then, if you ask me, was there nothing in Asadal’s culture that he liked?

At first it was like that.

Now, it wasn’t.

“I like both of them.”

“What if there are two?”

“First is food. It’s called rice.”

“Hmm, now that I think about it, what did you guys eat originally?”

“I had tea.”

“…Tea? What kind of food is it?”

“It’s a food made by spreading beer on wheat dough and fermenting it. It’s soft and rich, and it’s incredibly delicious.”

Tea means ‘bread’ in ancient Egyptian.

“…You put alcohol in your food?”

“Of course, it’s food that only noble people eat. I was a noble person.”

When we think of Western staple foods, we usually think of bread.

Common sense doesn’t apply in this day and age.

Simply put, it’s because baking is difficult.

In the world, there is no such job as a ‘rice cook’ or a ‘noodle maker.’ Anyone can easily make rice or noodles.

But there is a job called a baker.

This is proof that bread is a difficult food to make.

And, in the current Mediterranean, this bread is considered a rather rare food. In Egypt, the center of culture, bread is given as a kind of salary, and in Greece and Western Asia, which are far from Egypt, it is only eaten occasionally during festivals.

Of course, Mago, who was the governor of the major city of Sur, the greatest commercial center in the Mediterranean, could eat bread every day, unlike those country bumpkins.

“But the food here is okay. To be honest, it was a bit strange at first. The fact that it was rice, and the fact that you had to eat with utensils instead of your hands were a bit strange.”

“…Don’t they use tools there?”

“I use it when I eat meat, and I tear things off with my hands.”

“That… is messy.”

“…Why is it so messy?”

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In East Asia, chopsticks and spoons have been found since BC, but in the West, such tools developed somewhat later. This may be seen as a cultural difference.

“Anyway, this rice is quite filling. It tastes good, but it’s also soft, which is nice.”

When it comes to food, texture is important in addition to just taste.

From Margo’s perspective, it was quite enjoyable just to have food that wasn’t so hard that it hurt her teeth, or so watery that it didn’t taste good at all.

“Plus, the Seongdo-byeong (Asadal-style chicken fried rice) is amazing. To be honest, it’s comparable to the dinners I had in Aegyptus and Sur.”

“I like that too. Okay, I understand the food, but what’s the second?”

“Of course… this thing called ‘foot volleyball’.”

At a time when even China’s Chu-Ju (蹴鞠) and Rome’s Harpastum, considered the origin of European football, had not yet appeared.

The game of kicking a leather ball with one’s feet was enough to give Margo a unique feeling.

Moreover, the Lebanese region where Tyre is located remains one of the most football-loving regions in the Middle East even in the 21st century.

“I have never felt this happy even in Sur.”

“Foot volleyball is the best sport in Asadal.”

Kang Seok said confidently.

At that time, a person from Seorabeolbu intervened.

“Hey. Foot volleyball isn’t the best. There’s baseball.”

“Baseball? What is that?”

Kang Seok looked puzzled.

An official from Seorabeolbu said.

“Oh, don’t you know? This is also something that Elder Poongbaek came up with. It’s a game where you fill a ball made of high-quality leather with animal hair, hit it with a bat, and run.”

Poongbaek recently succeeded in making Indian-style tough leather by combining Asadal’s leather technology.

The leather is now a specialty of Seorabeolbu. Even the nobles of Haedongseong are making a fuss to touch this leather even once. If women love silk, men love Seorabeolbu leather.

And when Poongbaek saw this white leather, he thought of something else.

-…The baseball is white, right?

That’s how the Asadal baseball team was born.

“Usually, Asadal’s excellent spearmen swing their bats, and the stone throwers throw balls. Then, when they have a difference of opinion, they rush at each other and fight, which is really fun. But, in Haedongseong, they don’t enjoy this fun thing, so they play foot volleyball?”

At those words, Kang-seok, who was listening, became enraged.

“What are you talking about? There is nothing in the world more fun than foot volleyball. I don’t know how fun that ‘baseball’ game is, but it’s not as fun as foot volleyball.”

“Haha, that’s because Mr. Kang-seok hasn’t seen ‘baseball’ yet. It’s incomparably more fun than ‘the likes of’ foot volleyball. Even Mr. Poong-baek said that baseball is more fun than foot volleyball. Right now, it’s the busy farming season, so we’re busy playing foot volleyball or something, but when the farming season is off, no one cares about foot volleyball.”

“??????????”

Listening to that conversation, Margo decided that one day she too would go watch something called ‘baseball’.

and.

There is a third reason why she likes Asadal, which Mago did not mention.

“Margo, by the way, don’t you miss your hometown?”

“Are you going to send it back?”

“It’s hard, but we could send people to make something called tea (bread). Since Asadal has flour and alcohol, wouldn’t it be similar?”

“Then thank you.”

“Hey, is Chacha growing up well too?”

“Thanks to you, that’s why.”

Humanity.

The people of Asadal did not persecute the foreigners… no, the Sur people who were brought in as slaves.

We naturally ran around and played kicking the ball.

They were not reluctant to accept it as their own culture.

What can I say, this feels very familiar.

Mago knows the source of that generosity.

A large barn and many fields.

and.

Experience of accepting and developing foreigners.

All of those things, Margo liked quite a bit.

And around that time.

“Elder Poongbaek has returned!”

News of Poongbaek’s arrival was heard. Kang-seok’s face hardened at those words.

“…Damn, I have to go to work again.”

It felt like the vacation period was over.

***

When I returned to Seorabeolbu again.

The first thing I saw was a new article.

A stem that climbs a tree.

At the end, you can see traces of a forsythia.

At the end of it, there is a green fruit. That green fruit, when the time comes, will turn into a purple fruit and spread a sweet fruity fragrance.

therefore.

“…Why are there grapes here?”

“Grapes… huh? Are you talking about chacha?”

“Chacha?”

As I rack my brain, the word chacha comes to mind. It’s the Phoenician word for grape. By then, I have a rough idea of ​​where those grapes came from.

“Did the Surians plant it?”

Eulji, who came out to greet me, answered my question.

“Yes. Some of them brought dried chacha, which they planted and cultivated.”

… That’s right, the Phoenicians loved grapes.

Just as Koreans grew rice in Hamgyeong Province during the Jeonka Incident, grew rice when they went to Hawaii, grew rice when they went to Mexico, and even grew rice in Sakhalin and the Maritime Province, they are a rice-growing people.

The Phoenicians are a people of grapes. The birthplace of grapes was Georgia, the starting point of the Phoenician-Canaanites.

They always carried raisins and grape seeds in their arms, and regardless of whether they went as merchants or slaves, they somehow managed to grow grapes in any region. They are the very foundation of the current Mediterranean grape-wine culture.

And it seems that they have succeeded in growing grapes again even in this distant Asadal.

“…Do you by any chance not like it?”

“No, that can’t be.”

There’s no way I wouldn’t like the new crop.

Those grapes are the very heart of the Phoenicians. Taking them away is like taking rice and kimchi away from the Koreans.

You will probably see all the Surians become enemies.

“…It’s the opposite. Tell them to raise it widely. It would be nice if they gave it a stone.”

“The stone is already attached.”

“Kang Seok? What’s wrong with him?”

“When they tend to the tea plants, they pick flowers or attach stems… It seems like you were interested in that.”

So, that means he went to learn advanced farming techniques. Did Kang Seok have that kind of side to him?

“…I think it’s probably because the Surians like foot volleyball.”

Then that’s it.

It felt like I was helping a golf buddy.

“I heard that they grow that tea and store it in wooden jars called Qvevri.”

It’s an oak barrel.

“After that, let it mature to make ghvino.”

It’s wine.

“Or, you can boil it and make something called debash and eat it by spreading it on tea made with alcohol.”

It means to spread jam on bread and eat it. Devash is usually translated as ‘honey water’ when translating the Bible in Korea, but it is originally closer to ‘jam’ than honey.

“Have you ever offered them tea (bread)?”

“I tried making a similar wine using Asadal barley, as they wanted. According to them, the taste was very different, but they seemed to be impressed.”

Well, it can’t be the same.

The barley wine they are talking about is beer, but Asadal’s barley wine is closer to ‘barley makgeolli’.

If their bread tastes like sliced ​​bread, Asadal’s bread tastes like rice cake made with alcohol.

However, even though Koreans who dropped by Mexico made kimchi with cabbage and ate it, they felt nostalgic about kimchi and smiled.

The same goes for the Surians.

“Somehow, the Sur people’s expressions brightened.”

They too, although they came from far away to a foreign country.

The sight of grapes and bread seems to have made her heart happy.

‘They are the ones who can survive somehow as long as they have grapes and the sea.’

I understand that too.

When I first saw garlic here and made kimchi with it, it felt like the world was comforting me.

“…let them build a large vineyard. Give them enough space, and if necessary, attach farmers from Asadal to it. They are worth it.”

“…Uh, Master.”

Eulji answered.

“Why are you making me do that…?”

Oh, I thought that graduate students were supposed to do things like drink coffee and run errands in addition to studying.

‘… Ah, right.’

I look at Euljiro.

The guy I met in my late teens is now approaching his fifties. His beard is cropped short (the blacksmith told me to keep it short because he thought it would cause trouble if I let it grow long) and there are a few white hairs.

What, a graduate student? He’s already old enough to be a full professor.

“I’m sorry. I guess I still treat you like a child. Even after all this time.”

“…Well, that could be the case.”

Eulji laughed.

Yeah, a lot of time has passed.

I am old, and Eulji is getting old.

Kang Seok, who is kicking the soccer ball from afar, is also of an age close to retirement in the 21st century.

‘The professor said the same thing.’

Professor Baekgyeol often clicked his tongue when he saw me preparing for my master’s degree.

– A guy who didn’t even know the difference between Goryeo and Goguryeo after entering college is now writing a master’s thesis. I guess I’m really getting old. Ugh.

And that’s it.

I completely understand that feeling now.

At that moment, I realized my aging and the passage of time. This is not something that comes little by little every day, but something that comes all at once.

“…Okay, let’s go.”

So, I walked slowly with Eulji through the vineyards, towards the center of Seorabeolbu.

For my final mission in life, the maritime powerhouse Asadal.

… the last one, right?

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