(The previous post was about Constantinople but used a left over image of Venice. Lucas travels between them.)
Lucas has befriended Hugh de Tourneville of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. They converse in Genoese although both also know Romaic Greek.
Hugh comments that people in Constantinople "'...have good reason to hate everything Western.'" (p. 27) The text soon refers to the Crusaders' earlier sack of the city which is described in Anderson's There Will Be Time. Hugh fought at Acre.
They plan "...to visit the famous Mangana building." (ibid.) However, the action of a Poul Anderson novel almost immediately intervenes and any such leisurely pursuit is soon abandoned.
The text continues with more historical and geographical references than I can fit into this post.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I remember reading somewhere that Romaic Greek was characterized by having many loan words from Latin, which would scarcely be surprising.
I like to read history, and I went thru Egyptian, Chinese, British, French, and Roman/Byzantine phases. With some emphasis on reading translations of historical works from those times and places. For the Eastern Roman Empire that included the works of Procopius, Harry Turtledove's translation of the CHRONICLE of Theophanes Confessor, Michael Psellus' chronicle, THE ALEXIAD of Anna Comnena, and THE DEEDS OF JOHN AND MANUEL COMNENUS, by John Kinnamos.
The Sack of Constantinople by the Venetians and Fourth Crusaders certainly gave the Byzantines good reason for hating everything Western! With baleful consequences for both.
Ad astra! Sean
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