Chaitan Wong – Roman Revolutions

Lines for a liar

By Chaitan Wong | April 6, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Reneging on your promise of work!

How could one possibly cope with an imbecilic jerk.

I see your smile Brian.

Be careful with that, as people are dyin’

From Your lyin’.

I see you for what you are,

And gladly, it’s something I can’t par.

This work that you gave me is not fun

But after this we are done.

I will make a funeral pyre

To memorialize the words of a liar.

This is a poem that I based off of Catullus. I thought some of his poems were funny although a little derogatory. As a result, I decided to create a Catullus-like poem but removed the harsh insults that he would use. I wanted this to be a sort of comical type thing. As I don’t really know how to do meter well, I kept to a simple rhyming scheme with the last word of each line. Also, one thing that I feel I should mention is the name Brian. I happened to just pick one, more or less at random, and was not specifically targeting anyone for anything. I just so happened to use this name in my poem.

Cooking with Cato

By Chaitan Wong | March 10, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

When looking for Roman recipes to try and cook, I came across Cato the Elder’s de Agri Cultura, which happened to have a lot of recipes. I decided to look through this because I didn’t expect something like this from Cato. While looking through this, I came across the recipe for Libum. Upon reading it, I found it interesting and decided that I wanted to try and make it. Rather than using Cato’s instructions, mainly because it wasn’t very specific, I decided to look up a more precise recipe. I decided on one by PBS. The ingredients are 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 egg beaten, 8 ounces of ricotta cheese, half a cup of clear honey, bay leaves, and a casserole dish to cover the libum in the oven. Then the process is as follows. Sift the flour into a bowl. Beat the cheese and stir it into the flour with the egg. Form a soft dough and divide it into 4 pieces. Mold each one into a bun and place them on a greased baking tray with a bay leaf underneath. Heat the oven to 425° F. Cover the cakes with your casserole dish and bake for 35-40 minutes, until it is golden-brown. Warm the honey and place the warm cakes in it so that they absorb it. Allow to stand 30 minutes before serving.

I enjoyed making this dish as it was relatively simple and easy to follow. The one thing is that sifting the flower took a while because I did not know how to sift with a strainer. Other than that, I would not say that I had trouble with the recipe. I think it would be a good way to start learning how to cook. In terms of how it tastes, I found it to be really good. It certainly was not what I was expecting, but I actually enjoyed it. First, the texture tasted more like a biscuit, which I enjoyed. Second was the sweetness of the cake. I like the way the honey was able to complement the cake without oversweetening it. Upon reflection of the recipe, I found that the ratio of flour to cheese that I used happened to be 1:1. However, when rereading the recipe that Cato put down, I realized that the ratio can either be 2:1 or even 4:1. In the future, I think I might wanna try the ratio that Cato put down rather than the ratio that PBS used.

Before and after the baking process

Barbarī!

By Chaitan Wong | March 9, 2022 | Comments 0 Comment

Barbarians is a show that showcases the interactions between the Romans and the people of Germania. There are two main points that make this show unique. First is the general plot and theme of the show. It follows the character Arminius, who was the son of a German Chief, but given away as tribute to the Romans. While in Rome, he was adopted by a patrician, and he was brought up as a Roman. After gaining notoriety in the Roman army, Arminius is sent back to Germania to help his adoptive father, Publius Qunictilius Varus, keep Germania in check. Once Arminius begins interacting with people he used to know, he becomes conflicted, feeling affection for both the Romans and the Germans. Eventually, Arminius decides to betray the Romans and leads the three legions in Germania to their deaths. From this story, it was interesting to see the internal conflict within Arminius that lead to this decision.

Inside of him was the conflict between the longing to return home, and his sense of duty as a Roman Equestrian. Part of the reason that Arminius decides to betray the Romans is the rejection he feels from the Romans. Because of his “barbarian” origins, he is unable to climb higher than equestrian on the cursus honorum. As a result he is tasked to stay in Germania and rule his Germanic father’s tribe, unable to return to Rome. Not only was this information given to him by the empire, but also his father. I wonder if Rome was more willing to advance Arminius’s political career, would he have decided to remain loyal to Rome. This indirectly shows how the Romans thought about foreigners, even if they grew up in Rome. Another way the show presented cultural differences was in the way wolves were thought of by the Germans and the Romans. Instilled from a young age, the Germans taught Arminius to fear the wolf, but contrary to this, the Romans taught him to love the wolf.

Given these conflicting messages, Arminius was always questioning which view he believed. Presenting wolves as both a destroyer and a savior, the writers intended these ideas to be symbolic of the power Arminius had within him – the power to destroy or save the Romans. Ever since his young age, he held this conflict within himself, but he favored the Romans as he kept acquiring accolades. However, once his dreams were destroyed, he was quick to seek vengeance by siding with the Germans. The second reason that this was enthralling was because of the languages spoken. In this show, old German and Latin were spoken by their respective peoples. By doing this, even if the grammar and pronunciation is not correct, it creates an immersive and engaging experience. It also helps to showcase the communication difficulties that exist, which would have been ignored if it was in English. The show was highly engaging and I would recommend it to anyone who finds Rome interesting.