Appian (was: Severian's family tree)

Tony Ellis · 25 Aug 2006, 18:19 · from 2006-August.txt.gz

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From: tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com (Tony Ellis)
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:19:02 +0100
Subject: (urth) Appian (was: Severian's family tree)
Message-ID: <000001c6c872$f1444d10$6401a8c0@cthulhu>

Apologies if this turns into a repeat post, the little tubes of the
internet seem to have eaten my first attempt.

Dan'l wrote:
> Why do people keep referring to Severian's immediate predecessor as 
> Appian? Is there some reference I've missed?

I don't think so. As far as I can see it's a mistake that's been
repeated so many times on this list that it has somehow magically become
'true', like Holmes saying "Elementary, my dear Watson." :-)

As you say, Appian dates from too long ago. In 'The Cat' we're told that
Appian was Autarch 62 years before Severian's reign. Even if we
generously make Appian 18 at the time, that would still make the Autarch
Severian knows a man of 80.

The thinking seems to be that since the old Autarch was trained by a
honey-steward, 'Apian' would be an apt name for him. Well, yes. Appian,
on the other hand, is an entirely different word - derived, as far as I
can see, from the name Appius, etymology unknown.

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