Talk:Rhapta

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Intriguing article! Keep up the good work! — mark ✎ 01:28, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The opening quotation

The edits concerning this passage are getting a little silly, so let me lay out the facts behind these five words.

When I wrote the first draft of this piece, I had G.W.B. Huntingford's translation of Periplus of the Erythraean Sea before me (published 1980), wherein he translates the original Greek as "the last mart of Azania". Because "mart" is a distinctly obsolescent word, & Huntingford consistently translates the Greek emporia as "mart", & substituted "emporium" for "mart" (assuming this word was familiar enough to the average reader not to need an explanation) & launched this article on its merry way.

I noticed a few days later that this passage had been amplified not only to state that it was rendered into English thusly in one specific translation, but with a link on the word "emporium", which led to an article that did not explain the word. Okay, since I'm the author of this "translation", I changed the word to "marketplace" (which is less high-fallutin' than "emporium") & removed the misleading information. Now I look once again at the article, & someone has decided to invent her/his own "correct" translation! And so I reverted it.

To the next Wikipedian who feels compelled to augment these five simple words, keep the following in mind: This precise translation never existed before the beginning of this article. The whole point of quoting the Periplus was to show this was as far south as traders of the first two centuries AD had reached; not all of sub-Saharan Africa was unknown to the intellectuals of the Ancient World.

If you really want to add to this article, you can flesh out some of the debate over the location of Rhapta, or create the articles this one points to. Otherwise, this obsession with these five words for this many people is either an expression of the need to be an authority rivalling David Brent's most unrestrained efforts, or pure vandalism. -- llywrch 02:38, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)