Well, out of fairness, The Part-Time Parliament is a story about a fake Greek society, replete with "Greek"-style reinterpreted names for researchers Lamport wanted to name check. Extended metaphor is not the standard academic approach. Not to mention, the math behind the paper is kind of beyond the grasp of most on the first few readings.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/lamport/pubs/l...