"'You civilized people think that because we barbarians have no cities or books we must be a lot of dumb animals. Hell, we need our wits more than you do!'" (pp. 92-93)
Barbarians are alert and active human beings, not dumb animals. Does Conan speak like a civilized man or am I merely expressing the prejudices of such a man? I think that the answer is partly that Conan has travelled through many civilized realms and has done business with civilized people like, in this volume, Belit, so that he is no longer an unsophisticated barbarian.
He easily sees through the wiles of Nehekba and is overpowering her as my rereading is interrupted. I read this book so long ago that each new plot twist comes as a surprise.
Onward with the Cimmerian.
10 comments:
The thing about civilizations is that they enable collective action much more than pre-State societies do. Barbarians may be clever, but they can't -do- as much, not without instituting a State themselves. Note that the Germanic barbarians didn't really trouble Rome much until they developed kingdoms.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
We see that happening in the Andersons THE KING OF YS, with the Irish King Niall conquering a large part of Ireland and planning massive attacks on the Western Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
Of course, there are other institutions that can do -some- of the things the State can do. Age-grades in many African peoples allowed large-scale cooperation in war, for example -- among the Maasai and the Galla. The Zulu army was also based on age-based regiments, at least at first.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Maybe that was because the Zulu kings did not have the financial/economic base for raising and arming full time armies?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, they did because Zulu society had a very strong sexual division of labor. Women did most of the farming work, except for clearing new land; men fought, hunted, and herded cattle.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I forgot how in Africa farm work was traditionally left to women, with the high status fighting, hunting, herding reserved for men.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: I think that was because women were the ones who introduced agriculture into most sub-saharan African cultures.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I would have thought agriculture spread to the rest of Africa via Egypt and the Nile valley, where men did do the bulk of farm work.
Ad astra! Sean
Egyptian influence sort of ended in Nubia. The crops in sub-saharan africa were completely different, even before the introduction of things like cassava and sweet potatoes from the New World.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Which was unfortunate for Africa, because the Egyptian view of agriculture was better.
Ad astra! Sean
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