Time Travelers on a Budget: Exploring History for Free (or Almost Free)

The Article:

Have you ever dreamt of walking the cobblestone streets of ancient Rome, or sipping tea with Jane Austen? Time travel might be fiction, but experiencing the thrill of history doesn't have to break the bank. In this article, we'll explore creative ways to become a budget-savvy time traveler, diving into the past without a DeLorean or a winning lottery ticket.

1. Unleash Your Inner Archivist:
Libraries and archives are treasure troves of the past. Many offer free online resources, digitized documents, and historical photographs. Explore the Library of Congress online archive for a glimpse of America's past, or delve into the British National Archives' digital collections for a taste of European history. Local libraries often have historical sections with local newspapers, maps, and yearbooks – a fantastic way to discover the hidden stories of your own town.

2. The Power of Public History:
Step outside and explore! Many cities offer free walking tours led by passionate history buffs. These tours can take you past iconic landmarks and hidden gems, all while providing a rich historical context. Don't forget to check out historical societies and museums for free admission days or special events.

3. Rediscover Literature:
Books are portals to the past. Public libraries are brimming with historical fiction and biographies that can transport you to another era. Feeling adventurous? Many classic works of literature are now free online, allowing you to experience history through the eyes of the people who lived it.

4. Embrace the Digital Revolution:
The internet is a goldmine for historical exploration. Educational websites like https://www.khanacademy.org/ offer free courses on a variety of historical topics. Documentaries abound on platforms like YouTube, providing in-depth explorations of historical events and figures. Social media groups dedicated to history can connect you with other enthusiasts and spark new areas of interest.

5. Think Outside the Museum Walls:
History is all around us! Visit historical landmarks and cemeteries, even if they have an entrance fee. Often, you can appreciate the architecture and atmosphere from outside. Many public parks were built on historical sites – pack a picnic lunch and enjoy a bit of history in a green space.
By following these tips, you can become a time traveler on a budget. Remember, the most important tool you possess is curiosity. With a little imagination and resourcefulness, the past comes alive, waiting to be explored!

History of the concept

Mythical time travel

Statue of Rip Van Winkle in Irvington, New York
Some ancient myths depict a character skipping forward in time. In Hindu mythology, the Vishnu Purana mentions the story of King Raivata Kakudmi, who travels to heaven to meet the creator Brahma and is surprised to learn when he returns to Earth that many ages have passed.[2][3] The Buddhist Pāli Canon mentions the relativity of time. The Payasi Sutta tells of one of the Buddha's chief disciples, Kumara Kassapa, who explains to the skeptic Payasi that time in the Heavens passes differently than on Earth.[4] The Japanese tale of "Urashima Tarō",[5] first described in the Manyoshu tells of a young fisherman named Urashima-no-ko (浦嶋子) who visits an undersea palace. After three days, he returns home to his village and finds himself 300 years in the future, where he has been forgotten, his house is in ruins, and his family has died.[6] In Jewish tradition, the 1st-century BC scholar Honi ha-M'agel is said to have fallen asleep and slept for seventy years. When waking up he returned home but found none of the people he knew, and no one believed his claims of who he was.[7]

Abrahamic religions

In Islam, the Quran narrates the story of the Seven Sleepers, a group of monotheistic young men who sought refuge in a cave to escape persecution. As they slept, Allah preserved them for centuries, and when they awoke they discovered a changed world. This narrative, found in the Quranic Surah Al-Kahf, describes divine protection and time suspension.[8][9][10] The story of the Seven Sleepers appears in a myth of the Christian religion, in which a group of young men were seeking to escape Roman persecution. Rome was a polytheistic empire at the time.[11][12]
In another story from Islam, Uzair (often identified with the Biblical Ezra) experienced profound grief at the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. It is said that God took his soul and restored him to life after the city's reconstruction. Upon returning to his hometown, he went unrecognized by the people and his household, except for an elderly maid, who, once blind, regained her sight through his prayers. During this reunion, Uzair also encountered his son, who, despite aging beyond him, recognized his father.[13][14]

Shift to science fiction

Further information: Time travel in fiction
Time travel themes in science fiction and the media can be grouped into three categories: immutable timeline; mutable timeline; and alternate histories, as in the interacting-many-worlds interpretation.[15][16][17] The non-scientific term timeline is often used to refer to all physical events in history, so that where events are changed, the time traveler is described as creating a new timeline.[18]
Early science fiction stories feature characters who sleep for years and awaken in a changed society, or are transported to the past through supernatural means. Among them L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fût jamais (The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Was One, 1770) by Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Rip Van Winkle (1819) by Washington Irving, Looking Backward (1888) by Edward Bellamy, and When the Sleeper Awakes (1899) by H. G. Wells. Prolonged sleep, like the later more familiar time machine, is used as a means of time travel in these stories.[19]
The date of the earliest work about backwards time travel is uncertain. The Chinese novel Supplement to the Journey to the West (c. 1640) by Dong Yue features magical mirrors and jade gateways that connect various points in time. The protagonist Sun Wukong travels back in time to the "World of the Ancients" (Qin dynasty) to retrieve a magical bell and then travels forward to the "World of the Future" (Song dynasty) to find an emperor who has been exiled in time. However, the time travel is taking place inside an illusory dream world created by the villain to distract and entrap him.[20] Samuel Madden's Memoirs of the Twentieth Century (1733) is a series of letters from British ambassadors in 1997 and 1998 to diplomats in the past, conveying the political and religious conditions of the future.[21]: 95–96  Because the narrator receives these letters from his guardian angel, Paul Alkon suggests in his book Origins of Futuristic Fiction that "the first time-traveler in English literature is a guardian angel".[21]: 85  Madden does not explain how the angel obtains these documents, but Alkon asserts that Madden "deserves recognition as the first to toy with the rich idea of time-travel in the form of an artifact sent backward from the future to be discovered in the present".[21]: 95–96  In the science fiction anthology Far Boundaries (1951), editor August Derleth claims that an early short story about time travel is An Anachronism; or, Missing One's Coach, written for the Dublin Literary Magazine[22] by an anonymous author in the June 1838 issue.[23]: 3  While the narrator waits under a tree for a coach to take him out of Newcastle upon Tyne, he is transported back in time over a thousand years. He encounters the Venerable Bede in a monastery and explains to him the developments of the coming centuries. However, the story never makes it clear whether these events are real or a dream.[23]: 11–38  Another early work about time travel is The Forebears of Kalimeros: Alexander, son of Philip of Macedon by Alexander Veltman published in 1836.[24]

References

1. ^ Cheng, John (2012). Astounding Wonder: Imagining Science and Science Fiction in Interwar America (illustrated ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-8122-0667-8. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023. Retrieved November 18, 2019. Extract of page 180 Archived 2023-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ Dowson, John (1879), "Revati", A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, and literature, Routledge, archived from the original on September 7, 2017, retrieved August 20, 2009
3. ^ The Vishnu Purana: Book IV: Chapter I, archived from the original on May 27, 2022, retrieved January 8, 2022
4. ^ Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1964), Indian Philosophy (7 ed.), People's Publishing House, New Delhi
5. ^ Yorke, Christopher (February 2006). "Malchronia: Cryonics and Bionics as Primitive Weapons in the War on Time". Journal of Evolution and Technology. 15 (1): 73–85. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
6. ^ Rosenberg, Donna (1997). Folklore, myths, and legends: a world perspective. McGraw-Hill. p. 421. ISBN 978-0-8442-5780-8.
7. ^ "בבלי - מסכת תענית פרק ג". mechon-mamre.org. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
8. ^ Yahya, Farouk (December 5, 2022). "Talismans with the Names of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus/Aṣḥāb al-Kahf in Muslim Southeast Asia". Chapter 8 Talismans with the Names of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus/Aṣḥāb al-Kahf in Muslim Southeast Asia. Malay-Indonesian Islamic Studies. pp. 209–265. doi:10.1163/9789004529397_010. ISBN 978-90-04-52939-7. Retrieved December 7, 2023. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
9. ^ "Cave of the Seven Sleepers". Madain Project. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
10. ^ Blakeley, Sasha (April 24, 2023). "The Seven Sleepers". Study.com. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
11. ^ "The Cave of the Seven Sleepers in al-Rajib: A Co-Produced Christian-Muslim Site of Veneration". Coproduced Religions.
12. ^ Benko, Stephhen (1986). Pagan Rome and the Early Christians, Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253203854
13. ^ Renda, G'nsel (1978). "The Miniatures of the Zubdat Al- Tawarikh". Turkish Treasures Culture /Art / Tourism Magazine.
14. ^ Ibn Kathir, Stories of the Prophets, translated by Shaikh muhammed Mustafa Gemeiah, Office of the Grand Imam, Sheikh al-Azhar, El-Nour Publishing, Egypt, 1997, Ch.21, pp.322-4
15. ^ Grey, William (1999). "Troubles with Time Travel". Philosophy. 74 (1). Cambridge University Press: 55–70. doi:10.1017/S0031819199001047. S2CID 170218026.