[Ansteorra] "Autocrat"

[Hugh & Belinda Niewoehner]

Beg to differ with you my lord.  Cordova, where I was born, was quite 
civilized.  We had paved and lighted streets, indoor plumbing, 
universities and libraries.  My own father's library contained some of 
the greatest works of the ancients in Arabic as well as other 
languages.  I learned Byzantine Greek (Roman) as well as Latin (the 
language of the infidel) as a young girl although my tutors may not agree. 

respectfully,

H. L. Rayya al-Kurtubiyya binte Da'ud
resurrected in a place called Ansteorra (and I'm working on that 
Ansteorran accent--quit teasing me :-) )

John Atkinson wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 6:39 AM, Chris Zakes <dontivar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>   
>> Robin: (Is everyone keeping up? There may be a quiz later.)
>>     
>>> True, but we don't speak Greek.
>>>       
>> *We* may not speak Greek, but an educated person in the Middle Ages or
>> Renaissance probably would (along with Latin and the language of their
>> homeland.)
>>     
>
> Depends on when and where.  For the majority of the 'Middle Ages',
> knowledge of Greek was more or less lost among the less civilized
> former provinces of the Roman Empire.  Knowledge of written Greek was
> entirely lost until the Italians started learning it again from Greeks
> fleeing the Turk.  Which is why many Greek philosophers were known in
> the West from Latin translations of Arabic translations of their
> works.
>
> Within the Empire, of course, it was a different story.
>
> My persona would certainly have spoken Greek, most likely Armenian and
> Arabic, and possibly Turkish, and likely be literate in Greek.
> Literacy was far more widespread in civilized Europe.
>
> Ioannes Dalassenos
> who wishes to call attention to the fact that the word civilized
> literally means 'dwelling in cities' and that really only applies to
> the East after Old Rome collapsed into a village after being sacked
> repeatedly during the Gothic Wars.
>   
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