Talk:Via Egnatia

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In articles where Ancient Macedonia, the Greek province of Macedonia and FYROM are all mentioned in the same breath, clarification of the latter is especially important. And yes, FYROM is the formal name in the United Nations. Regards, Sysin

[edit] GR-2

Greek National Road 2 now links to Via Egnatia. If the two are not identical, then a separate article on GR-2 is necessary. Andreas 14:54, 3 February 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Modern non-English names

Historical entities do not need their names written in the lead in all the modern languages spoken in the territories related to the topic, unless the entity still exist as a modern location. We don't say "Limes Arabicus (Arabic: ....)". We don't say: "Via Aquitania (French: ...)". Just as we don't translate names of historical events, names of ancient historical personalities, names of plants, animals, whatever. We are not a dictionary. Only place names that are still inhabited regularly get that treatment. I'm in favour of removing all the modern language names again. Fut.Perf. ☼ 11:20, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

So would we add Latin, and keep the Greek, just add Latin, or neither? _{El Greco}^(talk) 15:23, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

The title is already in Latin. The name has to be mentioned in Ancient or Byzantine or whatever Greek, not in modern Greek though. Even if it's the same in Modern Greek, it should read:

"Via Egnatia (Ancient Greek:Ignatia Odos) was a...."

I'm assuming that's why people added names in other modern languages. BalkanFever 01:45, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

No, it should read simply "Greek" as it does now, but I've added the contemporary polytonic orthography which is no longer used for modern Greek. Your distinction is a false one; ancient and modern Greek are just different historical stages of the same language. And I've removed the languages that were not present in the area at all when the ancient road was in use. ·ΚέκρωΨ· (talk) 02:57, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

The road was certainly still used in Byzantine times (and described by Byzantine historians), so the Greek term is appropriate - it was as much a Byzantine Greek road as it was a Roman one. -- ChrisO (talk) 07:45, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I think the current version represents a fair compromise. The polytonic orthography means that post-1982 modern Greek is excluded, so that should allay any nationalist-inspired envy. As for BalkanFever's "Ancient Greek" suggestion, it is not quite accurate; Ἐγνατία Ὁδός is also Byzantine and early modern Greek. The only term that covers all three neatly and succinctly is simply "Greek". ·ΚέκρωΨ· (talk) 08:01, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I've removed the modern translations again that have crept in again in the meantime. Fut.Perf. ☼ 09:42, 15 May 2008 (UTC)