Information Conveyed In Section Headings

The four earliest written Time Patrol stories are each divided into numbered sections:

"Time Patrol," 1-6
"Brave To Be A King," 1-8
"The Only Game in Town," 1-7
"Delenda Est," 1-9

The idea of using year dates as section headings began with "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," where the narrative begins in 372 and ends in 374 although the earliest intermediate date is 43 and the latest is 2319. That last is the single scene in the entire series that is set later than the twentieth century. The twentieth century dates in this story are 1935 (four times), 1980 (twice), 1933 and 1934. The single nineteenth century date in the story is 1858. There is time travel but also the familiar narrative technique of flashbacks within the order of events as experienced by a viewpoint character. Carl's visits to the Goths begin in 300.

"The Year of the Ransom" presents complete dates, e.g.: 10 September 1987.

The Shield Of Time returns to year dates but adds A.D. or B.C., e.g.:

31,275,389 B. C.
13,211 B. C., I-XV
18,244 B. C.
1138alpha A. D.
1989beta A. D.

The novel uses the Greek letters which are not on my keyboard.

Finally, "Death and the Knight" specifies both place and date, e.g.:

PARIS, TUESDAY, 10 OCTOBER 1307 

"Gibraltar Falls" and "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" have no section headings whereas "Star of the Sea" has Roman numerals for mythological passages and Arabic numerals for historical or contemporary passages.