Our story takes place in the Roman Empire of the first two centuries (“AD”). It is a Greco-Roman world. In the eastern half of the empire Greek is the common language; in the western half, Latin. Greek is the language of the educated. Local dialects persist—Aramaic, Syrian, Punic, Celtic.

 

Anglo-Saxon (English) did not exist. Thus, in this novel, many place names, personal names, and some terminology is either Latin or Greek.

 

Some examples:

 

Jesus is Yeshua (Aramaic) or Iesous (Greek). The apostle John is Johannon (Aramaic) or Ioannes (Greek).

 

“Bishop” is not used, rather episkopos (Greek, meaning “over-seer”).

 

“Church” is not used, rather ekklesia (Greek, meaning assembly of those called).

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“Gospel” is not used, rather euaggelion (Greek: “good tidings”).

 

One of the court officials of the emperor or a governor of a province was the Ab epistulis: the chancellor's office in the Roman Empire whose task was the emperor's correspondence, who wrote in Latin and in Greek, and answered the responses.

 

The purpose for adhering to the Greek and Latin terms/names is to draw you a little deeper into the culture and the way the culture of the times expressed itself. While human nature has not changed, our expressions of self, motivations and morals have a uniqueness in every age. Language reflects this.

 

The Glossary (click to go to this page) and List of Characters (this is only in the book The   Peregrine's   Odyssey) will be an aid, as will repetition throughout the story.