Talk:Baudolino

I wasn't sure where or if to add these links in the article, so I just put them here instead. (With my indeed limited knowledge) they should all refer to people and places mentioned in the novel (wich I read translated to Swedish only). It could end up a very long list. / Mats Halldin 17:47, 7 February 2006 (UTC)


 * River Sambation (Ten lost tribes)
 * Ezra ben-Salomon of Girona, kabbalist, (1160-1238)
 * Hypatia
 * Saint Baudolino, patron saint of the city of Alessandria (with a church consecrated in 1189 and featuring a statue of the peasant Aularilo).
 * Ardzruni

Historical vs legendary
The article on Kyot suggests that he is probably legendary, but possibly historical. Since this probably can no longer be resolved, plus the legendary list is so short, I'm going to combine them (with notations for the legendary figures). -- Toby Bartels 09:39, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

It appears that the 'notations' have been lost in the history. It really should be made clear which ones are truly historical and which ones are legendary. Kind of surprised to see Prester John listed as historical. 69.95.232.130 (talk) 23:15, 10 March 2008 (UTC)


 * A legend (as opposed to a myth) is a narrative that is thought to have a historical basis. In its "most historical" form, the life and times of a definite person were deemed, in its historical context, and particularly by admirers or detractors in the decades immediately following his or her death, to be significant enough to serve as a kind of nucleation point onto which various ideologies, morals, ideals, and so forth could be readily condensate. In the process, the figure acquires sundry traits, deeds, and opinions that take the story out of history and into the realm of legend proper. Moreover, legends surrounding two or more persons may start to coalesce. It is interesting that the layman's perennial question "Did so and so really exist?" can then be answered "Yes; many times over!" which fails to satisfy the layman, whose thoughts are bent to the honouring (or indeed worship) of one particular individual. In a third instance, the legend may, one or several centuries hence, become the focal point of a narrative that is driven by an entirely novel agenda that bears very little on the original figure, who persists in name alone.
 * Of the first kind are celebrities (often "legends in their own time") such as Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Alberts such as Einstein and Schweitzer.
 * Of the second kind many historical rulers, e.g. Charlemagne.
 * Of the third kind personages such as Jesus Christ, the prophet Mohammad, Buddha, and King Arthur.
 * All of this to point out that a simple distinction between the legendary and the historical is not easily drawn (which is of course the theme of the book).
 * The mythical is a different matter, and it subsumes the biologically impossible. 2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:6C58:E74F:F368:C5D9 (talk) 08:28, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Historical novel?
The genre of the book is marked "historical novel" which is correct in some respect, but it does not do justice to the second part of the book, which is mostly speculative fiction or alternate history. If no one objects, I will do the edit in some days.--Aethralis 07:30, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
 * As you say, historical novel is "correct", certainly for the first part. I never got to the second part! No objection ... Andrew Dalby 10:15, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Does the word "novel" (which implies fiction) in the phrase "historical novel" not already acquit the author of all duties of accuracy that behoove the historian? 2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:6C58:E74F:F368:C5D9 (talk) 08:35, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Deacon John
Was Deacon John, or the city of Pndapetzim, really a fictional or legendary person not invented by Eco? 63.87.189.17 (talk) 18:13, 9 April 2009 (UTC)