Just as Poul Anderson's Technic History extends from post-Chaos recovery to the period of the Commonalty, the Time Patrol history extends from the Academy in the Oligocene period through other past periods visited by Everard and future periods guarded by agents like Komozino to the civilization of the Danellians.
The most remarkable fact that we learn about Komozino is that she might have spent years of lifespan in research and preparation between learning of the temporal upheaval and contacting Everard. Dealing with the upheaval is a matter of urgency but a time traveller can spend years on something urgent.
18 comments:
Kaor, Paul
Guion was also a Patrol agent who came from Everard's remote future. And Carl Farness consulted a Patrol physician in a secret base on the Moon of the 23rd century.
Ad astra! Sean
The Patrol probably selects culturally compatible people for joint missions.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Which makes simple sense. The Patrol would want its agents to be able to work together with the minimum possible mutual "culture shock."
Ad astra! Sean
My 21st-century Americans get a fair amount of culture shock in 2nd-century Rome... even though they're specialists in that period of history. That specialization lets them function there, though.
Also, if you're isolated in a different culture, you either go nuts or (unconsciously) assimilate.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I sure as heck know I would not manage anywhere as well as Arthur/Artorius and his grad students did in Antonine Rome.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, they understand Latin, for starters. Not all Classical historians do, but a lot do, and Fuchs specified that.
A New Testament scholar told that, to understand those texts, it is necessary to know not only the Greek but also Aramaic - to be able to reconstruct possible originals of NT phrases and passages.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: I agree, it helped enormously that Fuchs was so careful in selecting the persons he wanted to shanghai to the past.
I wish I could recall the title of a story Anderson wrote using similar ideas, but one in which the time travelers sent to Augustan Rome failed, despite knowing Latin and with plenty of funds. And with four or five Augustan Romans being the ones who succeeded, despite not knowing English!
Paul: But most of us have to be content with translations of the OT/NT. It would take many years of study to master Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin (for Old Latin and Vulgate Biblical texts).
The Gospel of Matthew is the most Semitic of the NT books. It contains many Aramaisms and Aramaic turns of phrase, and was probably translated into Greek very early, around AD 50. Mark's Gospel is also quite Aramaic in its wording and was likely also written around AD 50.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
We need accurate translations and informative commentaries.
Paul.
It is the scholars and translators that need to know Aramaic as well as Greek.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree on the need for accurate translations of the Scriptures. Many, like me, are not entirely satisfied with many modern versions, largely because they go too far in the direction of "dynamic" translating, on what the translator thinks the text means. My preference is for a moderately strict "formal" equivalent version, translating a text more literally. Ambiguities are best discussed in footnotes. I think the 1941 Confraternity version of the NT largely succeeds in avoiding being excessively dynamic or too woodenly literal.
I do have one Biblical commentary: the second edition of THE NEW JEROME BIBLICAL COMMENTARY, with Fr. Raymond Brown as chief editor. I fear it's somewhat above my mental "pay grade," but I have read many of its articles.
Really good Biblical scholars, such as Fr. Joseph Fitzmyer, are as expert in Aramaic as they are in Greek.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: the KJV has a few peculiarities -- for example, it often translates Koine Greek "poisoner" as "witch".
Mind you, they didn't draw a sharp distinction between the two, but it may have been influenced by King James' excessive fear of witches.
And the Mosaic divine name was replaced with "the Lord."
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: I tried to find out more about the point you made about "poisoner/witch," without much success. Did the Hebrew word translated by the LXX Greek OT had meanings for both "poisoner" and "witch"? I can see how that would cause confusion!
Paul: Replacing the Tetragrammaton with "the LORD" was done to show reverence for the Name.
Ad astra! Seam
Sean,
Sure but it was a mistranslation.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but it's a fixed tradition with both Jews and Christians to use "the LORD" instead of the Tetragrammaton.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I agree but it was a mistake to change the translation.
Paul.
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