While approaching the Virgilian planet, Dido, the Aenean, Kathryn McCormac, tells Flandry:
"'The base, Port Frederiksen' - a brief white smile - 'one of my ancestors founded it - 's on the western end of Barca, as we've named the biggest continent.'" (p. 65)
Dido, Queen of Troy, was romantically involved with Aeneas and his abandonment of her to pursue his destiny is supposed to explain the historical Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. (The Time Patrol intervened in the Second Punic War but in a different timeline.)
Hannibal Barca, Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War, famously led his army with elephants across the Alps.
Frederiksen: this is the first time that we are told Kathryn's maiden name. Her brother will become Firstman of Ilion on Aeneas after Kathryn's husband, Hugh McCormac, defeated by Flandry, goes into exile with Kathryn and many of his followers.
Ilion is an archaic name of Troy, hence Homer's Iliad. Virgil based his Aeneid on Homer's Iliad and Oddysey, to both of which the Aeneid is a sequel.
Manuel Argos, Founder of the Terran Empire, was a remote historical successor of Romulus.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Perhaps you remember how, after Hugh McCormac and his sons fled the Empire, I was puuzzled that the Firstmanship of Ilion passed to the Frederiksens, rather than a collateral, patrilineally descended branch of the McCormacs. The latter is the rule generally used for British peerages. I suggested the Frederiksens inherited the Firstmanship because something like the Spanish rule for succeeding to peerages was used. That is, the closest heir in BLOOD succeeded.
Ad astra! Sean
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