Opar
Encyclopedia
Lost city (fiction)
In the popular imagination lost cities are real, prosperous, well-populated areas of human habitation that have fallen into terminal decline and been lost to history. Most real lost cities are of ancient origins, and have been studied extensively by archaeologists...
in Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
's series of Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
novels.
Burroughs may have taken the name from the Biblical reference to Ophir
Ophir
Ophir is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon is supposed to have received a cargo of gold, silver, sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks from Ophir, every three years.- Citations :...
, whence King Solomon supposedly received a cargo of "gold, silver, sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
, precious stones, ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
, apes and peacocks" every three years, via the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, which was presumably somewhere in Africa, but of which hardly anything else is known.
The city first appeared in the second Tarzan novel, The Return of Tarzan
The Return of Tarzan
The Return of Tarzan is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published in the pulp magazine New Story Magazine in the issues for June through December 1913; the first book edition was published in 1915 by A. C....
(1913), and was revisited in the fifth, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It first appeared in the November and December issues of All-Story Cavalier Weekly in 1916, and the first book publication was by McClurg in 1918.-Plot...
(1916), the ninth, Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Tarzan and the Golden Lion is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ninth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published as a seven part serial in Argosy All-Story Weekly beginning in December 1922; and then as a complete novel by A.C. McClurg & Co...
(1923), and the fourteenth, Tarzan the Invincible
Tarzan the Invincible
Tarzan the Invincible is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourteenth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Blue Book from October, 1930 through April, 1931 as "Tarzan, Guard of the Jungle."-Plot summary:Tarzan, his...
(1930). Exiles from Opar also appear in Burroughs' juvenile story "Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, with Jad-Bal-Ja, the Golden Lion" (1936, later published as the second part of Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins
Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins
Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins is a collection of two Tarzan novellas written by Edgar Rice Burroughs for younger readers. It was originally published as two children's books, The Tarzan Twins by Voland in October 1927, and Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, with Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion, by Whitman in...
in 1963). The events of this story occur between those of Lion and Invincible.
In Burroughs
Opar is located deep in the jungles of AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Portrayed as a lost colony of Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
in which incredible riches have been stockpiled down through the ages, the city's population exhibits extreme sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
caused by a combination of excessive inbreeding, cross-breeding with apes, and selective culling of offspring. Consequently, female Oparians are physically perfect, while male Oparians are beast-like brutes. The ruler and high priestess of the city is Queen La
La (Tarzan)
La is a character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels. She first appeared in the second Tarzan novel, The Return of Tarzan , and reappeared in the fifth, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar , the ninth, Tarzan and the Golden Lion , and the fourteenth, Tarzan the Invincible...
, who on her first encounter with Tarzan falls in love with him, and subsequently carries a torch for him. Tarzan, already committed to Jane Porter
Jane Porter (Tarzan)
Jane Porter is a major character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly film.- In the novels :...
, spurns her advances, thus endangering his own life, as the religion of Opar condones human sacrifice. Yet he returns to the lost city time and again to replenish his personal wealth from its hoarded treasure.
In Farmer
Opar is also the setting of Philip José FarmerPhilip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
's novels Hadon of Ancient Opar
Hadon of Ancient Opar
Hadon of Ancient Opar is a fantasy novel by Philip José Farmer, first published in paperback by DAW Books in April 1974, and reprinted three times through 1993. The first British edition was published by Magnum in 1977...
(1974) and Flight to Opar
Flight to Opar
Flight to Opar is a fantasy novel by Philip José Farmer, first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1976, and reprinted twice through 1983. The first British edition was published by Magnum in 1977....
(1976), which expanded the idea of Opar into a pre-historic world (some 10,000 years ago) in which Africa had two huge linked inland seas, which were the cradle of a pre-Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian civilization. This primeval empire was based on an island in the more northern sea, taken to be Atlantis in the Tarzan books; the city of Opar, located on the more southerly sea, is portrayed as having been a small back-water in this much larger realm, called Khokarsa
Khokarsa
Khokarsa is a fictional empire in ancient Africa that serves as the primary setting for Philip José Farmer’s prehistoric fantasy novels Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, and The Song of Kwasin .-Literary Origins:...
. Farmer's novels mix characters from the Tarzan series (Farmer maintained that the character Sahhindar is the time traveler John Gribardsun from his novel Time's Last Gift, in which it is strongly hinted that Gribardsun is in fact Tarzan) and H. Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
's Allan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...
series ("Laleela" and "Pag", here re-named "Lalila" and "Paga").
In other media
On film, Opar was seen in the early Tarzan movies The Adventures of TarzanThe Adventures of Tarzan
The Adventures of Tarzan is a 15 chapter movie serial which features the third and final appearance of Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan. The serial was produced by Louis Weiss, written by Robert F. Hill and Lillian Valentine , and directed by Robert F...
(1921
1921 in film
-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1921:U.S.A. unless stated*$10,000 Under a Pillow, silent film directed by Frank Moser*The Ace of Hearts, silent film directed by Wallace Worsley*Across the Divide, silent film directed by John Holloway...
), based on The Return of Tarzan
The Return of Tarzan
The Return of Tarzan is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the second in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published in the pulp magazine New Story Magazine in the issues for June through December 1913; the first book edition was published in 1915 by A. C....
, and Tarzan the Tiger
Tarzan the Tiger
Tarzan the Tiger is a Universal movie serial based on the novel Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It stars Frank Merrill as Tarzan, Natalie Kingston as Jane, and Al Ferguson. It was written by Ian McClosky Heath and directed by Henry MacRae.It was considered lost at one time...
(1929
1929 in film
-Events:The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.*January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona is released. The film is the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors....
), based on Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It first appeared in the November and December issues of All-Story Cavalier Weekly in 1916, and the first book publication was by McClurg in 1918.-Plot...
, as well as the more recent film Tarzan and the Lost City
Tarzan and the Lost City (film)
Tarzan and the Lost City is a 1998 American action-adventure film directed by Carl Schenkel, and starring Casper Van Dien, Jane March and Steven Waddington....
(1998
1998 in film
-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
). Opar also appeared, in the guise of a generic African village, in Tarzan and the Lost Safari
Tarzan and the Lost Safari
Tarzan and the Lost Safari is an action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan and Betta St. John. The movie was directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, and was the first Tarzan movie released in color, Eastman...
(1957), in which the Oparians were led by the male chief Chief Ogonooro (played by Orlando Martins
Orlando Martins
Orlando Martins was a pioneering black actor in film and on stage. In the late 1940s, he was one of England's most prominent and leading black actors, and in a poll conducted in 1947, he was listed among England's top 15 favorite actors.-Life:...
) rather than the female queen/priestess La.
Opar has also appeared in some of the television series based on the Tarzan books.
External links
- Opar by Rick Johnson, ERBzine No. 1547
- The Secret History of Opar by Den Valdron, ERBzine No. 1937
- The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1913)
- Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1916)
- Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1922, 1923)
- Tarzan the Invincible by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1930, 1931)