Iran, Persia, the Medes and Media at lunch, mid-1970s.
It seemed funny then. Yesterday, not so.
Thousands of years ago, there was the empire of the Medes who ruled over a land named Media. (Sort of where today’s Kurdistan lies.)
Their neighbors and relatives were the Persians who’s eventually created Iran. The Media people were surrounded by fierce tribes who over the millennia reinforced their folk stories of power and glory, food, mead (the drink) and dreams. They never forgot that their ancestors were empire builders.
Fast forward to the 1970s. I was the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff member assigned to memorialize a private luncheon discussion between the Shah (Emperor) of Iran and several senior Senators.
They were far from strangers. For years they had held similar sessions.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi sat on his throne because of American and UK backing that included a CIA plot. Anti-Americanism that burbled up, in part from lingering memories of Persian glories, certainly were afloat in Iran. They led to the Shah’s demise and the rise of today’s strict Shia religious regime. These vibes, as I recall, were the background noise of the discussion after the plates were cleared.
The first question came from the committee’s chairman, John Sparkman.
It was not clear to me what was behind the Senator's opening question, other than a passing thought. The Shah’s response evoked hearty laughter, probably because the answer was so unexpected.
Sparkman: “I remember hearing time and again about the Medes and the Persians, the Persians and the Medes.”
“What ever happened to the Medes?”
After about a four second pause.
Shah: “We ate them.”
His timing was as immaculate a conception as any nightclub comedian’s.
Yesterday, however, I thought of an alternative interpretation. Maybe it wasn’t a joke. The Shah said “ate.” In his mind, ate might have been the Farsi word for “absorbed,” or something similar, like assimilate.
Using the best, the biggest, and the most brutal tactics of their day, ancient empires like the Persians “absorbed” their religious or boisterous adversaries with the efficiency of WWII Allies carpet bombing of Tokyo and Dresden. They were experts at spreading the news about their brutality to scare into submission and assimilate any surviving or future enemies.
Every nation’s narrative is distilled into attitudes that are the menu for its collective memories which tend to dwell on victories. Unfortunately, innocent civilians make up the soups and salads featured on the bills-of-fare that make history so enticing.
I hope someone will protect you and me from becoming just another side dish.
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