08-04-2008, 06:50 PM
My friend Bert van der Spek knows an awful lot about cuneiform sources, and is currently preparing the "Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistic Period", which contain lots of new information about Seleucid Babylonia.
Although the focus of Bert's research is on social and economic history, the chronicles also document several ancient wars. One of them is the little-known Babylonian War of 311-309, for which the Chronicle of the Diadochi offers a lot of information. He has discovered that Antigonus Monophthalmus was soundly defeated by Seleucus - something not recorded in the Greek sources, although Polyaenus may refer to it. The implication is, generally, that the Battle of Ipsus merely confirmed what had already been decided on the plains of the Euphrates and Tigris.
The problem is, Bert is an assyriologist, which means that he is even more absent-minded and even less aware of normal society than other ancient historians. He is also absolutely unaware of anything happening on the internet. Which means that he has made a nice discovery, and nobody will ever notice, except for a couple of assyriologists.
So I have written two wiki articles about the Babylonian War (Dutch, English) and our Stefan has translated it into German. It's a pretty state of the art piece, actually a bit too good for the Wikipedia.
Now my request: Is there anyone over here who might translate it into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, or just improve my English? Any help will be sincerely appreciated!
Although the focus of Bert's research is on social and economic history, the chronicles also document several ancient wars. One of them is the little-known Babylonian War of 311-309, for which the Chronicle of the Diadochi offers a lot of information. He has discovered that Antigonus Monophthalmus was soundly defeated by Seleucus - something not recorded in the Greek sources, although Polyaenus may refer to it. The implication is, generally, that the Battle of Ipsus merely confirmed what had already been decided on the plains of the Euphrates and Tigris.
The problem is, Bert is an assyriologist, which means that he is even more absent-minded and even less aware of normal society than other ancient historians. He is also absolutely unaware of anything happening on the internet. Which means that he has made a nice discovery, and nobody will ever notice, except for a couple of assyriologists.
So I have written two wiki articles about the Babylonian War (Dutch, English) and our Stefan has translated it into German. It's a pretty state of the art piece, actually a bit too good for the Wikipedia.
Now my request: Is there anyone over here who might translate it into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, or just improve my English? Any help will be sincerely appreciated!
