Arpad travels in a penteconter. (See image.) What has become of Eodan and Tjorr in their stolen slave freighter? We must continue to read.
"They passed the Bosporus with no trouble, Byzantium having recently become subject to the Kingdom of Pontus." (p. 187)
Byzantium is on the Bosporus. We have been told that Arpad serves a King so is that the King of Pontus? There is a lot of information in these few pages.
"There was a halt at the Hellespont to show diplomatic passports, for that strait was controlled by the Bithynians, who favored Rome." (ibid.)
So Bithynia backs the Roman Republic whereas Arpad works for the Kingdom of Pontus? (We think.)
"But since Rome was still uneasily at peace with the Pontines, who dominated the Black Sea, Arpad was obsequiously sent on his way." (ibid.)
"Pontines" must refer to the people of Pontus who include Arpad, we think.
"Thereafter he bore south between the Aegean islands, pausing to admire an occasional temple crowning a high ridge, until he saw pirate-haunted Crete. Beyond lay open sea, but it was not excessively far to the Nile's mouth." (ibid.)
Of course we have heard of most of these places but I have formed the habit of googling place names and we do not know all the information that is disclosed in the Wikipedia articles.
I was told at school that, whereas we enter churches, Classical temples were primarily to be looked at.
So Crete was pirate-haunted? We recently considered some pirates of the Caribbean. See here.
Reading about Pontus, Bithynia etc, we gain a knowledge of their history, the kind of information that Anderson's various time-traveling characters would carry with them if they were to visit the period of the Roman Republic - which preceded the more familiar Empire.
We have been told that Arpad's job is to transport an ambassador and some dispatches to Egypt so the next occurrence is that:
"The Pharaoh of Egypt, who was a Macedonian by ancestry, received the captain from Pontus, who was half Persian and half Anatolian, graciously. Like all cultivated people, they spoke together in Attic Greek." (pp. 187-188)
OK. The term for this Andersonian text is "fact-packed."
We were told earlier that Arpad had picked for his crew men who would not become "...slack after a few weeks in the subtle stews of Alexandria." (p. 187) Can stews (brothels or slums) be subtle?
The city, we are told, swarms with philosophers, geographers, gods and prostitutes. The "...learned class..." (p. 188) want to meet the captain from exotic Pontus:
"...Graeco-Persian-Asiatic on the Black Seacoast, a source of timber, minerals, and the fantastically lovely murrhine glass." (ibid.)
It is known that the Pontine King, Mithridates Eupator:
was enthroned at the age of twelve;
but fled from a usurpation attempt by his mother and brother;
lived for years as a hunter in the mountains;
returned to regain his inheritance;
plotted and fought against Cappadocians, Galatians and Armenians;
captured Colchis of the Golden Fleece;
thus, gained lordship over the Greeks of the Cimmerian Bosporus, a kingdom on a peninsula stretching beyond Lake Maeotis with only barbarism and Ultima Thule beyond that.
The fleeing from usurpation and hiding in the mountains sounds like what Manse Everard of the Time Patrol describes as "...a typical hero myth...." when it is recounted of Mithridates' ancestor, Cyrus:
"Essentially the same yarn had been told about Moses, Romulus, Sigurd, a hundred great men. There was no reason to believe it held any fact..."
-Poul Anderson, "Brave To Be A King" IN Anderson, The Guardians Of Time (New York, 1981 pp. 65-124 AT 4, p. 84.
However, the Wikipedia article confirms this story about Mithridates.
Arpad is asked:
What can he tell of Mithridates' Tauric provinces?
Are there relics of Jason's visit in Colchis?
What would war with Rome be like?
Apparently, the options for war are "to the death" or "civilized." (p. 188) The latter means adjusting boundaries and taking prisoners for the slave market. Civilized indeed.
Returning to Pontus, the penteconter encounters a gale sent by Ahriman according to some of the sailors. Avoiding being blown to Syria, Arpad decides to shelter at Rhodes. Then he sees another ship. Our two narratives are about to intersect...
That is just over two pages of Anderson's text.
10 comments:
Paul:
There was some TV movie, decades ago, concerning the events of Good Friday and Easter, with a scene in which Caiaphas explains to Pontius Pilate the sociopolitical threat Jesus of Nazareth presents. He tells Pilate that some of Jesus' followers have been referring to him as "Christ ... which means, The Anointed One." Pilate says with marvelous dryness, "Thank you. I also speak some Greek."
David,
I think a recent film got it wrong by having the characters speaking Latin.
Paul.
Paul (again):
I'm going to guess that in the reference to "subtle stews," the idea is that Alexandria being a very "civilized" (a.k.a. "sophisticated" or even "depraved") city, some of the prostitutes there cater to somewhat kinky tastes that a small-town harlot might not be as versed in. And that a sailor who wasn't put off by these practices could quickly find his first experience of them ... addictive. "What she did with her ___ – I gotta try that again!"
In Avram Davidson's fantasy Peregrine: Primus, the title character and friends come to a town where they're told:
"'...may I point out to you that in the adjacent street yonder there are to be found no less than six churches, all formerly Temples of various Abominations, as well as four chantries, a monastery, ten taverns, fifteen wine-cellars, and twenty-five brothels? ... Twenty-five. Is it not abominable?'
"'It is more than abominable. It is superfluous.'"
Peregrine decides his party will just have to skip the churches, the chantries, and the monastery.
Oh, and just before Peregrine expresses this decision, there's a passage citing three senses:
"Here and there oil-lamps had begun to twinkle. The good smell of supper cooking came wafting through the evening air, along with the thick scent of incense. Hawkers called their wares, the musical bonk-bonk-bonk of wooden bell-boards announced vespers, and, over and above it all, a young woman, obviously dead to all shame, leaned out of a first story window. She had on a very lowcut dress, and she had a cithern in her hands, and she began to strum and to play and finally to sing a love-song."
David,
On an evening walk through Liverpool, I passed a parish church, a mosque, a Krishna temple and a Latin Rite Catholic church and was approached by one prostitute, then returned to me room to practice zazen. I could not complain about lack of choice.
Paul.
Kaor, DAVID and Paul!
David: I think "subtle stews" can have more than one meaning! Besides the ones you listed, and which I agree with, some of these "stews" could have catered to men with more refined tastes. High class courtesans could have entertained certain select customers with cultivated conversation, poetry, music, and songs. With some, sex might very well be secondary.
I too have read Avram Davidson's PEGRINE PRIMUS, and I recall that amusing line about the street with the superfluous number of brothels! I hope you have read as well Davidson's stories about the learned Dr. Eszterhazy and the wonderfully named Triune Monarchy of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania.
Paul: and we both know how FATEFUL a role Byzantium would play in world history! We get glimpses of the Eastern Roman Empire in THERE WILL BE TIME and THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS.
But, I don't think it's that implausible for SOME people to know Latin the Palestine of Christ's time. The overwhelming dominance of Rome would have made it necessary for some of the Jewish leaders, including even some of the priests, to learn Latin. And the "titulus" affixed to Our Lord's cross stated His "crime" in Latin, Greek, and either Hebrew or Aramaic.
And sometimes "hero yarns" told of men like Mithradates VI of Pontus are actually true! Because usurpations and restorations HAVE occurred. One later example I've thought of being that of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian II (r. 685-695, and again from 705-711). He succeeded his father as Emperor and reigned for ten years before being deposed, mutilated, and exiled. Ten years later, after many adventures, Justinian II returned, ousted the usurpers and regained his throne. Alas, despite very real courage and abilities, he and his son still came to bad ends.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But I understand that the film, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, which I have not seen, has Roman soldiers conversing in Latin instead of in Greek.
Paul.
Sean:
While educated, refined courtesans certainly existed, Arpad worried about the possibility of common sailors going slack after too long in the brothels ... which doesn't sound exactly as if the "subtle" nature of the prostitutes he expected them to visit had to do with philosophical discourse.
I saw a risque cartoon once, showing a Middle Eastern ruler strolling through his seraglio with, apparently, another of his rank. Scarcely-clad beauties lolled all around (a very risque cartoon). And one woman in late-Victorian-looking garb, reading a book. "She's for when I just want an evening of interesting conversation." (Approximate quote)
Paul:
Greek, though, was the language of the best educated of the time. I'd expect the lower ranks of Roman soldiery, if actually Roman rather than auxilia, to speak Latin (or an Italian dialect close enough for mutual understanding) among themselves. Their officers would know that tongue to give orders and receive reports. So, depending on who's actually in the conversation, I don't think Roman soldiers speaking Latin is necessarily an error. I doubt it'd be literary Latin such as Cicero used, of course. We'd be taken aback if Tommy Atkins sounded Oxonian.
Kaor, Paul and DAVID!
Paul: David has already addressed the issue of Latin being used in the Palestine of Christ's time. I would merely add I still think some of the Jewish leaders would also know literary Latin, for official purposes.
David: Perhaps I was over thinking the "subtle stews" bit! Yes, ORDINARY sailors among Arpad's men would not be very likely to have refined tastes. Subtle forms of kinky sex was what was meant.
Ad astra! Sean
I thought that Greek was the language of common discourse which was why the NT was written in it.
Kaor, Paul!
It was, esp. Koine Greek, the somewhat simplified form of Greek which spread so widely after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Koine Greek was used for commerce and everyday use by most who knew any Greek at all. But Latin was also known and used in the pars Oriens of the Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
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