Uqbar
Encyclopedia
Uqbar is a fiction
al place in Jorge Luis Borges
's 1940 short story
"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
". Uqbar in the story is doubly fictional
: even within the world of the story it turns out to be a fictional place. The story turns on the narrator's discovery of a fictitious entry
about Uqbar: that is, a false article in an otherwise legitimate reference work. Also, despite its overall fictional nature, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is loaded with references to real people and places and it playfully combines reality and fiction.
Consequently, on the one hand hoax
es about Uqbar abound, and on the other, many writers have claimed that Borges's Uqbar is entirely fictional. Nonetheless, there is at least one real place with the name Uqbar, in Algeria
, as well as a town called Ukbara
in Iraq
, each of which seems to have at least some aspects in common with Borges's fictional Uqbar. These places may plausibly have inspired the name and some other aspects of the Borges's Uqbar, although Borges's description of its culture
is fictional.
described in the story furnishes deliberately meager indications of Uqbar's location: "Of the fourteen names which figured in the geographical part, we only recognized three – Khorasan, Armenia
, Erzerum – interpolated in the text in an ambiguous way." Armenia and Erzerum lie in the eastern highlands of Asia Minor
(in and near modern Turkey
), while Khorasan is in northeastern Iran
. However, it was said to have cited an equally nonexistent book – Lesbare und lesenswerthe Bemerkungen uber das Land Ukkbar in Klein-Asien – whose title claims unambiguously that Uqbar was in Asia Minor
.
The boundaries of Uqbar were described using equally nonexistent reference points; for instance, "the lowlands of Tsai Khaldun and the Axa Delta marked the southern frontier" (see Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius). This would suggest that the rivers of Borges' Uqbar should rise in highlands to the north; in fact, the mountainous highlands of eastern Turkey are where not one but two Zab Rivers rise, the Great Zab
and the Lesser Zab
. They run a couple of hundred miles south into the Tigris
.
The only points of Uqbar's history mentioned relate to religion, literature, and craft. It was described as the home of a noted heresiarch
, and the scene of religious persecutions directed against the orthodox in the thirteenth century; fleeing the latter, its orthodox believers built obelisks in their southerly place of exile, and made mirrors – seen by the heresiarch as abominable – of stone. Crucially for the story, Uqbar's "epics and legends never referred to reality, but to the two imaginary regions of Mlejnas and Tlön."
and Baghdad
was the city of ‘Ukbarâ
(عكبرا, q. v.), located along a river that flows southward out of Asia Minor, and the birthplace of at least two Jewish "heresiarch
s", who led the "Okbarite" heretical movement within Karaism, itself a heresy
in the eyes of orthodox Judaism
. In another parallel, the thirteenth century was marked in Iraq by the invasion of the Mongols, who repeatedly persecuted their Muslim
subjects. It was also the birthplace of a great Islamic scholar and grammarian, al-Ukbari, who – like Borges' father, and later Borges himself – was blind
.
A possible source for Borges might have been the Jewish Encyclopedia
of 1901–1906, whose entry for the town is simply a cross-reference to an article on one of its "heresiarchs", Meshwi al-Ukbari. Another – probably less readily available – might be the Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste of 1818, specifically its article.
of Algeria
. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Fatimid
ruler Ismâ‘îl al-Mansûr
(died 953) pursued his Kharijite enemy Abu Yazid
into "the massif
of ‘Uḳbâr" [Brill's transliteration; others would equivalently use "‘Uqbâr"], the Djabal Ma‘âdid (popularly spelled 'Maadid'). The Djabal Ma‘âdid is in the Atlas Mountains
of Algeria, in the area where the following local dynasty
had its citadel, the present ruin of Qal‘at Bani Hammad, a famous archaeological site that was excavated by the French
early in the 20th century. The account of Ismâ‘îl al-Mansûr mentions his continued operations in the area of ‘Uqbâr until he "pacified the Zâb", the "fastnesses" (mountains) of which are mentioned several times in the account. This city, however, is notably more obscure, and is not mentioned in the standard medieval Arabic geographical texts, such as Ibn Khordadhbeh, al-Idrisi, or Yaqut al-Hamawi
.
Borges may have found a reference to it in any number of places, one of the most likely being accounts of the excavations, of the Kharijites
, or of the Ibadhis – considered by Sunnis, but not by themselves, to be Kharijite – who live in what is today called the M’zab, in the Pentapolis
(five cities), some of the minaret
s of which look somewhat like obelisk
s with flattened tops. Borges's story makes reference to the "obelisks" of Uqbar.
The first edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam (1913–1936), the only one that would have been available to Borges, does not seem to have any references to Uqbar, or for that matter Ukbara. So it is unclear which source, if any, he could have used. The name could also conceivably have arisen from a misprint of the name of the better-known town of Sidi `Uqbah, or Sidi Okba
, in the same area.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al place in Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
's 1940 short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th century Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in the Argentine journal Sur, May 1940. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronistic, set seven years in the future...
". Uqbar in the story is doubly fictional
Story within a story
A story within a story, also rendered story-within-a-story, is a literary device in which one narrative is presented during the action of another narrative. Mise en abyme is the French term for a similar literary device...
: even within the world of the story it turns out to be a fictional place. The story turns on the narrator's discovery of a fictitious entry
Fictitious entry
Fictitious entries, also known as fake entries, Mountweazels, ghost word and nihil articles, are deliberately incorrect entries or articles in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. Entries in reference works normally originate from a reliable external source,...
about Uqbar: that is, a false article in an otherwise legitimate reference work. Also, despite its overall fictional nature, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is loaded with references to real people and places and it playfully combines reality and fiction.
Consequently, on the one hand hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
es about Uqbar abound, and on the other, many writers have claimed that Borges's Uqbar is entirely fictional. Nonetheless, there is at least one real place with the name Uqbar, in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, as well as a town called Ukbara
Ukbara
‘Ukbarâ was a medieval city on the left bank of the Tigris between Samarra and Baghdad. The Tigris has changed course since, and its ruins now lie some distance from the river. Its name may possibly have inspired the "Uqbar" of Borges' short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.According to the...
in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, each of which seems to have at least some aspects in common with Borges's fictional Uqbar. These places may plausibly have inspired the name and some other aspects of the Borges's Uqbar, although Borges's description of its culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
is fictional.
Borges' fictional Uqbar
The fictitious entryFictitious entry
Fictitious entries, also known as fake entries, Mountweazels, ghost word and nihil articles, are deliberately incorrect entries or articles in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories. Entries in reference works normally originate from a reliable external source,...
described in the story furnishes deliberately meager indications of Uqbar's location: "Of the fourteen names which figured in the geographical part, we only recognized three – Khorasan, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Erzerum – interpolated in the text in an ambiguous way." Armenia and Erzerum lie in the eastern highlands of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
(in and near modern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
), while Khorasan is in northeastern Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. However, it was said to have cited an equally nonexistent book – Lesbare und lesenswerthe Bemerkungen uber das Land Ukkbar in Klein-Asien – whose title claims unambiguously that Uqbar was in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
.
The boundaries of Uqbar were described using equally nonexistent reference points; for instance, "the lowlands of Tsai Khaldun and the Axa Delta marked the southern frontier" (see Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius). This would suggest that the rivers of Borges' Uqbar should rise in highlands to the north; in fact, the mountainous highlands of eastern Turkey are where not one but two Zab Rivers rise, the Great Zab
Great Zab
The Great Zab , , , ) is an approximately long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. The drainage basin of the Great Zab covers approximately , and during its course, the rivers collects the water from a large number...
and the Lesser Zab
Little Zab
The Little Zab , , ) originates in Iran and joins the Tigris in Iraq. The river is approximately long and drains an area of c. . The river is fed by rainfall and snowmelt, resulting in a peak discharge in spring and low water in summer and early fall...
. They run a couple of hundred miles south into the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
.
The only points of Uqbar's history mentioned relate to religion, literature, and craft. It was described as the home of a noted heresiarch
Heresiarch
A heresiarch is a founder or leader of a heretical doctrine or movement, as considered by those who claim to maintain an orthodox religious tradition or doctrine...
, and the scene of religious persecutions directed against the orthodox in the thirteenth century; fleeing the latter, its orthodox believers built obelisks in their southerly place of exile, and made mirrors – seen by the heresiarch as abominable – of stone. Crucially for the story, Uqbar's "epics and legends never referred to reality, but to the two imaginary regions of Mlejnas and Tlön."
Ukbara, Iraq as a possible source
On the left bank of the Tigris between SamarraSamarra
Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
and Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
was the city of ‘Ukbarâ
Ukbara
‘Ukbarâ was a medieval city on the left bank of the Tigris between Samarra and Baghdad. The Tigris has changed course since, and its ruins now lie some distance from the river. Its name may possibly have inspired the "Uqbar" of Borges' short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.According to the...
(عكبرا, q. v.), located along a river that flows southward out of Asia Minor, and the birthplace of at least two Jewish "heresiarch
Heresiarch
A heresiarch is a founder or leader of a heretical doctrine or movement, as considered by those who claim to maintain an orthodox religious tradition or doctrine...
s", who led the "Okbarite" heretical movement within Karaism, itself a heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
in the eyes of orthodox Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. In another parallel, the thirteenth century was marked in Iraq by the invasion of the Mongols, who repeatedly persecuted their Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
subjects. It was also the birthplace of a great Islamic scholar and grammarian, al-Ukbari, who – like Borges' father, and later Borges himself – was blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
.
A possible source for Borges might have been the Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia
The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
of 1901–1906, whose entry for the town is simply a cross-reference to an article on one of its "heresiarchs", Meshwi al-Ukbari. Another – probably less readily available – might be the Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste of 1818, specifically its article.
Uqbar, Algeria as a possible source
It appears that there is or was an ‘Uqbâr in the Atlas MountainsAtlas Mountains
The Atlas Mountains is a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert...
of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
ruler Ismâ‘îl al-Mansûr
Ismail al-Mansur
Ismāʿīl al-Manṣūr was the third Caliph of the Fatimids in Ifriqiya .- History :Ismāʿīl was born in 913 in Raqqada near Kairouan and succeeded his father Abū l-Qāṣim al-Qā'im in 946. The Fatimid realm found itself deep in crisis due to the revolt of Abū Yazīd...
(died 953) pursued his Kharijite enemy Abu Yazid
Abu Yazid
Abū Yazīd Mukhallad ibn Kayrād , nicknamed Ṣāhib al-Himār "Possessor of the donkey", was a Kharijite Berber of the Banu Ifran tribe who led a rebellion against the Fatimids in Ifriqiya starting in 944...
into "the massif
Massif
In geology, a massif is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole...
of ‘Uḳbâr" [Brill's transliteration; others would equivalently use "‘Uqbâr"], the Djabal Ma‘âdid (popularly spelled 'Maadid'). The Djabal Ma‘âdid is in the Atlas Mountains
Atlas Mountains
The Atlas Mountains is a mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Toubkal, with an elevation of in southwestern Morocco. The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert...
of Algeria, in the area where the following local dynasty
Hammadid
The Hammadids were a Berber dynasty who ruled an area roughly corresponding to north-eastern modern Algeria for about a century and a half , until they were destroyed by the Almohads...
had its citadel, the present ruin of Qal‘at Bani Hammad, a famous archaeological site that was excavated by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
early in the 20th century. The account of Ismâ‘îl al-Mansûr mentions his continued operations in the area of ‘Uqbâr until he "pacified the Zâb", the "fastnesses" (mountains) of which are mentioned several times in the account. This city, however, is notably more obscure, and is not mentioned in the standard medieval Arabic geographical texts, such as Ibn Khordadhbeh, al-Idrisi, or Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt ibn-'Abdullah al-Rūmī al-Hamawī) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" refers to his Greek descent; "al-Hamawi" means that he is from Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah...
.
Borges may have found a reference to it in any number of places, one of the most likely being accounts of the excavations, of the Kharijites
Kharijites
Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...
, or of the Ibadhis – considered by Sunnis, but not by themselves, to be Kharijite – who live in what is today called the M’zab, in the Pentapolis
Pentapolis
A pentapolis, from the Greek words , "five" and , "city" is a geographic and/or institutional grouping of five cities...
(five cities), some of the minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
s of which look somewhat like obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
s with flattened tops. Borges's story makes reference to the "obelisks" of Uqbar.
The first edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam (1913–1936), the only one that would have been available to Borges, does not seem to have any references to Uqbar, or for that matter Ukbara. So it is unclear which source, if any, he could have used. The name could also conceivably have arisen from a misprint of the name of the better-known town of Sidi `Uqbah, or Sidi Okba
Sidi Okba
Sidi Okba is a locality in the Biskra Province, Algeria. It was named after the Muslim General Uqba ibn Nafi who died there in 683 AD. The nearest big city is Biskra which is located 18 km away.-See also:* Sidi Khaled...
, in the same area.
In popular culture
- British television's Lewis, broadcast in the UK by ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and in the US by PBS as a part of Masterpiece Theater, used Uqbar as a clue in the episode "Allegory of Love." The word is scrawled in blood on a note found at a murder scene.