Geoff Burling said:
I can't quite explain how, but in the paragraph
that Theophanes' translator
describes this event (sorry, I don't read Greek, either Ancient or Medieval),
I found myself suddenly drawn back to a time over 1200 years ago in a
place I have never been, which became more real for me than any television
or movie recreation of history could ever be. All because a writer,
otherwise devoid of personality, happened to share with posterity a vibrant
childhood memory.
And so I will keep on reading, ostensively because I want to correct
mistakes & fill in omissions in Wikipedia, but in the actual hope I will
encounter another surpise like this from a time & place far away.
I just had a moment like that this evening reading Georges Ifrah's /The
Universal History of Numbers/. All cultures that we have any record of
developed independently the same basic structure for tallying, and the
Roman numeral system seems to be a direct descendant from one of those
systems. The numerals I, V and X are probably older than written
language.
Wikipedia has more readers than writers. Please continue sharing your
iceberg stories with the world.
Stephen Gilbert