Page 130 - The cathedral of Hagia Sophia - "a(gia swfia", pronounced HAG-ee-ah soe-FEE-ah, means "Holy Wisdom", one of the attributes of the Holy Spirit.

Page 131 - "Porphyrogenitus", pronounced por-fee-roh-GEN-it-us, is Greek for "born in the purple". It was a title used only for the children of the Empress who were born in a special Purple Room in the palace.

Page 131 - Gormenghast refers to a trilogy of fantasy-horror-gothic novels written in 1940-1959 by Mervin Peake, now made into a TV series, a film, and an opera. Gormenghast was the castle in which the family of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Gormenghast, live with a bunch of weird characters.

Pages 132-133 - the photo is of the interior of Hagia Sophia today. The plaques in Arabic are a reminder that, after the Fall of Constantinople, the building was used as a Moslem mosque. It is now a museum

Page 141 - "copronymus", pronounced kop-ro-NIM-us, is from the Greek word "kopria", pronounced kop-REE-ah, meaning feces.