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Originally Posted by mbovenka
I get the reference to Gaul, but you have to fudge a bit to get to three parts, I think.
I'd say it's either two (Gallia Cisalpina & G. Transalpina) or more than three: G. Transpadana, G. Cispadana, G. Narbonensis (aka 'Provincia Romana', the modern Provence) & G. Comata (pretty much everything else south to the Pyrenees and north to the Rhine)
You could split G. Comata even further into G. Belgica, G. Aquitania & G. Lugdunensis, getting up to 6
The only way to get to 3 that makes some sense is G. Cisalpina, G. Narbonensis/Provincia Romana & G. Comata.
Or am I overthinking this?
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You're on the right track.
In the days when Latin was taught as a standard school subject, a book which virtually everyone would have been familiar with was Julius Caesar's "Gallic Wars" - it was THE standard text. The first line of the book is:
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Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres...
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or:
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The whole of Gaul is divided into three parts...
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which is the reference that this detective story is making in saying that like Gaul, the window was divided into three parts. It's a reference which would be completely lost to most modern readers.