"The cavalry was on the flanks, which was why cavalry regiments were called alae, 'wings,' in Latin." (p. 258)
Hence also, Alatanism in Poul Anderson's Technic History and "wingers" in football. Appropriately, England has just lost the Football World Cup Semi-Final to Argentina. We have been surrounded by St George's flags for weeks, some sporting, others political.
How do we like the cover illustration of an armed Diomedean in flight?
It is taking a while for SM Stirling's American time travellers to enter into conflict with their Chinese antagonists. First, there is a war with the Parthians which is what brought the alae into the text.
Another end to the day with other activities and maybe some blogging expected tomoz.
Fair winds forever. High is heaven and holy.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But Artorius and his grad students had to proceed in stages: recover from the shock of time traveling, figure out how to survive, learn the ins out of Roman society, win friends and allies, etc. All of which would take time.
Ad astra! Sean
Also, things just moved more slowly in the ancient world. It took months to cross the Roman Empire;. Roman armies marched 20 miles a day, and that was considered very fast.
China was the other side of the Eurasian supercontinent. All-out war was impossible because of the logistics.
(Europe bullied China in the 19th century, but that was the product of a technological gap and steamships and railways.)
Post a Comment