Farmer, Philip Jose

by Hadon of Ancient Opar (v1. 0)

  “I do not know,” she said.

  He kissed her again and then arose.

  Huge clouds of smoke still rose from Khowot. At its foot lay a blotch that was ruined Khokarsa. Nearby, a bird sang sweetly. A mouse ran out onto a shelf of rock from its hole and twittered at him.

  They would be alive after he was gone. They would sing and twitter in the bright sun below the blue sky while he lay a bloody, unseeing, unhearing, unfeeling corpse.

  But then, what would they know, if they lived to be a hundred, of love? Of his love for Lalila?

  He leaned on his sword and waited.

  Description of Maps

  Map 1 shows the major part of Africa circa 10,000 b.c. This is a modification of the map presented by Frank Brueckel and John Harwood in their article: Heritage of the Flaming God, an Essay on the History of Opar and Its Relationship ‘to Other Ancient Cultures, The Burroughs Bulletin, Summer, 1974. Their map, in turn, was based on that in Willy Ley’s Engineers’ Dreams, Viking Press, 1954, though also much modified.

  The world in 10,000 B.C. was in the dying grip of the last Ice Age. The present Sahara was mountains, plateaus, vast grasslands, parks of trees, rivers, and freshwater lakes. Elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, crocodiles, lions, antelopes, and ostriches numbered in the millions. The two inland freshwater seas actually existed, though their boundaries as shown here are highly speculative.

  The outlines of the mountains won’t satisfy a professional cartographer; they’re provided to give the reader a rough idea of their extent. The Mediterranean coastline was from 100-200 feet lower than its present level.

  While the rest of the world was in the late Old Stone Age, a maritime civilization had risen around the northern inland sea, the Kemu (the Great Water). Some colonial cities, including Opar, had been founded in the Kemuwopar (Sea of Opar). Excluding the cities of Khokarsa Island (see Map 2), the major cities were: 1, Mukha; 2, Miklemres; 3, Qethruth; 4, Siwudawa; 5, Wethna; 6, Kethna; 7, Wentisuh; 8, Sakawuru; 9, Mikawuru (the pirate stronghold); 10, Bawaku; 11, Towina; 12, Rebha (the pile-city). A-Klemqaba country. Opar and Kor are called out on the map, but Kor was built after Hadon was born.

  Note: The Khokarsans had their own system of measurements and weights, but in this novel only the English equivalents are given.

  Chronology of Khokarsa

  Introduction

  About 13,500 b.c. the coasts of the two seas of Central Africa were inhabited by a hundred small groups of paranthropoids, neanderthaloids, and human-neanderthal hybrids. The latter dwelt on the northern coast of the north sea; the neanderthaloids, on its west and east coasts; the paranthropoids, farther south. The total population along a coastline (including both seas) almost equal to that of the present Mediterranean was perhaps ten thousand.

  The inland seas were the last refuge of the neanderthaloids. Elsewhere they had been exterminated or assimilated by Homo sapiens. The paranthropoids were hairy subhumans related to the yeti and the sasquatch of today. These were more numerous than now. Paranthropus lived in the forest and jungle areas, retreating before the advance of Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens.

  Some time before 13,000 b.c., a number of Caucasian tribes wandered down from the lush savannas of what is today the Sahara. These people called themselves the Khoklem. They gradually pushed out the hybirds and the neanderthaloids to the south, or else assimilated them.

  About the same time, another group of Caucasians, the Klemsuh. began drifting into the middle-eastern coast of the north sea. These had physical characteristics which, if history had not decreed otherwise, might have seen the Klemsuh develop into a separate race. Their skins were a yellow-brown; their hair was straight, coarse, and dark; and they had slight epicanthic folds. These are Mongolian characteristics today, but the Klemsuh (the Yellow People) were definitely a stock of the Caucasian race.

  The hybirds, who were to be called the Klemqaba (People of the Goat) by the Khoklem, eventually settled along the coast and in the hilly and mountainous interior northwest of the strait between the two seas. Though very peaceful in the beginning, many hundreds of years of belligerency by the Khoklem taught them the art of war. Until the end of the Khokarsan civilization, they were to be a thorn in its side.

  The Khoklem, like the others, subsided mainly on fishing, hunting, and food-gathering. Most of their protein came from the Kemu (the Great Water). Due to the absence of cereal plants in this area, it is doubtful that they would ever have amounted to anything if it had not been for the appearance of the man they called Sahhindar.

  This mysterious man was regarded as a god by the Khoklem, and with good reason. He brought with him a variety of plants (apparently during a number of visits in a period of fifty years) and taught them how to domesticate these as well as the animals and birds of the area. Sahhindar also showed them how to mine copper and tin, how to make bronze tools and weapons, and how to make bricks and mortar. He also instilled in them a respect for sanitation and taught them the concept of zero. It is no wonder that he held a position in the Khokarsan pantheon analogous to that of Thoth in the Egyptian pantheon.

  These gifts explain why the Khokarsans anticipated the Agricultural Revolution of Mesopotamia by about four thousand years. It also explains how these Old Stone Age tribes leaped over the Middle and New Stone Ages into the Bronze Age.

  Eventually, groups in dugouts and on rafts landed on the island of Khokarsa, which was about the size of Crete. These were Khoklem belonging to a tribe known as the Klemreskom (People of the Fish-Eagle). Their chief goddess, Kho, was a fertility deity titled the Bird-Headed Mother. She was represented in rock paintings and on bone and hippopotamus-ivory carvings as a steatopygic, huge-breasted woman with the head of the fish-eagle. Other tribes came in a little later, and some of these represented her as having the head of a parrot. No doubt this was because the island was swarming with parrots.

  Sahhindar was also the god of Time, though the religion had it that he stole Time from his mother Kho and that was why She exiled him from the land. Sahhindar was said to have been able to travel in time before Kho had taken away this power. Undoubtedly, he was a time traveler from the twenty-first century who had been stranded about 12,000 b.c. (See my Time’s Last Gift, Ballantine, 1972.) Apparently he was not in the least responsible for the development of civilization elsewhere (in the Near East and on the Indus), but regarded Khokarsa as a private project. He will be referred to throughout this series but will play only a minor role in a few of the novels.

  That Sahhindar appeared a number of times in Khokarsa over a period of two thousand years can only be attributed to an age-delaying elixir of some sort.

  Major Events

  12,000 b.c. Khoklem. spreading out on northern shore of the Kemu. Appearance of Sahhindar.

  11,800 b.c. The hero Gahete is the first man to land on uninhabited island of Khokarsa. On succeeding trips, brings his tribe, the Fish-Eagle Totem. Their chief priestess dedicates a sacred oak grove high on a volcano, Khowot (Voice of Kho). Khokarsa (the Tree of the Hill of Kho) gives its name to the island. Painted fire- or sun-hardened pottery used.

  11,700 b.c. Other tribes have also landed elsewhere on the island. First beer from millet and sorghum made. Priestesses develop an early pictographic writing. Village of Khokarsa becomes the first walled area in the world. Potter’s wheel invented. Trephining of skull to relieve chronic headaches introduced.

  11,600 b.c. (1 a.t.) Large stone-block temple to Kho built on plateau by the sacred oak grove. King Nanla seizes the town of Miklemres, the gateway to the tin, copper, and salt mines in the Saasares mountains (the present Ahaggar and Tibesti). Mead-making becomes a major industry, controlled by the chief priestess, Nanwot. Alkaline-glazed pottery. Ox-drawn wagons.

  11,550 b.c. (50 a.t.) Chief priestess, Awineth, establishes a chronology, starting from completion of temple to Kho fifty years before, (a.t. stands here for After Temple.) Wine from grapes first made.

  11,530 b.c. (70 a.t.) The priestess-bard Hala c
omposes the first epic poem, The Song of Gahete, based on folk songs. Painting and sculpture are more lifelike but still stiff.

  11,520 b.c. (80 a.t.) The sundial and the processing of olives invented. First temple-tomb (for Awineth) built. (The kings at this time were still being sacrificed at the end of a nine-year reign. They were buried under large mounds of earth on top of which was set a bird-headed monolith. Heroes and heroines—that is, extraordinary men and women—were buried under mounds with a pointed monolith on top.)

  11,450 b.c. (150 a.t.) King Ruwodeth of Khokarsa crushes the revolt in Miklemres. First appearance of the Klemsaasa, a tall people speaking an unknown language, in the mountains north of Miklemres. Lead-glazed pottery.

  11,400 b.c. (200 a.t.) Expeditionary fleet led by King Khonan founds the port of Siwudawa in the country of the Klemsuh. This marks the beginning of a long series of campaigns against the Klemsuh of the rural areas. Lost-wax process for casting bronze invented.

  11,350 b.c. (250 a.t.) Port villages of Towina and Bawaku flourishing. The “oikos” system of settling the coast frontier is founded. (Bands of adventurous men and women build little wooden forts along the coast and dig in. These were led by men of the hero category whose residences later became small palaces and who ruled large estates. They founded the leading families of these areas, and many of the “oikos” became thriving towns in time.) By this time all six cities of the island have become powerful trade centers. Population of the city of Khokarsa: 15,000. Dythbeth, Saqaba, Kaarquth, Asema, and Kunesu have populations of from eight to ten thousand. Glass invented. Salt-glazed pottery and porcelain.

  11,250 b.c. (350 a.t.) Barter is still the basis of economy. Gold and silver first extensively mined in the northern mountains. From their villages in the Saasares, the Klemsaasa raid outlying districts of Miklemres. They incorporate their patriarchal sun god with Kho’s son, Resu. Hourglasses using sand invented.

  11,153 b.c. (447 a.t.) The genius Awines born in Dyth-beth.

  11,118 b.c. (482 a.t.) By the age of thirty-five, Awines has invented a syllabary, founded the science of linguistics, created a theory of atomism (much like Lucretius‘), discovered the circulation of blood, formulated an elementary algebra, and invented wooden printing blocks, catapults, Greek fire, the water clock, the magnifying glass and a solar calendar.

  11,113 b.c. (487 a.t.) Awines is exiled to Bawaku because his syllabary and calendar are considered sacrilegious. Bawaku revolts and defeats the Khokarsan fleet with Awines’ catapults and Greek fire.

  11,111 b.c. (489 a.t.) Awines is killed while trying to fly with artificial wings from a mountain.

  11,110 b.c. (490 a.t.) Keth of Kenesu reports discovery of the strait of the southern sea. Apparently, however, others had preceded him. The port village of Mukha becomes a city due to salt mines discovered near it.

  11,000 b.c. (600 a.t.) The Klemsaasa, having adopted agriculture, have become more numerous. They seize and control for a decade some tin and copper mines and require tribute from some outlying provinces of Miklemres. First mint established with coining of electrum.

  10,985 b.c. (615 a.t.) Under King Madymin of Khokarsa, Bawaku is retaken, its citizens are massacred, and it is resettled with colonists from Khokarsa. A group of Bawakans, led by the hero Anesem, escape and found the first City of Pirates, Mikawuru. (In Khokarsan, mi means city, and kawuru means both crocodile and pirate. ) This was on the fjord coast northwest of the strait into the southern sea (still little-known at this time). First silver and gold coins. First recording of use of brass.

  10,968 b.c. (632 a.t.) A great earthquake and tidal wave. The Klemsaasa seize the city of Miklemres. Towina, Bawaku, Dythbeth, and Kaarquth revolt successfully. Aboriginal population of Siwudawa revolts, massacres Khokarsan troops and merchants, and establishes independent state.

  10,954 b.c. (646 a.t.) The Mikawuru are driven from their stronghold by the Klemqaba. Led by Wethna, they cross the Kemu and found Wethna on its eastern shore. Use of perspective in art begins to spread.

  10,915 b.c. (685 a.t.) A Bawaku expedition under the hero Nankar travels the length of the Bohikly (the Niger River) and brings back from West Africa the red protein berry mowometh* and the ebony, African mahogany, and okra trees. These begin to spread rapidly around the Kemu. First biremes built. First contact with the Negroes of the west by the hero Agadon of Towina. King K’opwam of Khokarsa retakes Dythbeth and Ka-arquth.

  *Dioscoreophyllum cumminsi. A recently discovered red berry, native to West Africa. It’s three thousand times sweeter than sugar on a weight-for-weight basis. It is a protein, not a carbohydrate. See Signature magazine, March, 1973.

  10,878 b.c. (722 a.t.) The first great plague. (Smallpox, previously unknown, was probably brought in by black captives.) A quarter of the population of the island and of the cities of Towina and Bawaku die. A few years later, smallpox ravages all the population of the other areas.

  10,875 b.c. (725 a.t.) A chief of the Klemsaasa leads them and an army of Miklemres allies to Khokarsa and seizes the city. He marries its sole surviving priestess and ascends the throne. He adopts the Khokarsan name of Minruth; assimilation of the Klemsaasa begins. Those left in the mountains become known as the Klemklakor (Bear people).

  10,866 b.c. (734 a.t.). Minruth I completes the conquest of all the cities of the island and Towina and Bawaku. He refuses to honor the age-old custom of sacrifice of the king after nine years of rule and institutes custom of sacrificing a substitute. The Klemsaasa pantheon is entirely incorporated into the Khokarsan. Resu, the sun god, is proclaimed to be the equal of Kho. Nevertheless, in practice, most of the people for a long time regard Resu as secondary to Kho. This year marks the beginning of the long struggle between the priestesses and the priests. Old lunar Calendar is abandoned and Awines’ solar calendar is adopted. New one has twelve months of three ten-day weeks each, with five festival days at end of year. Year starts on the vernal equinox.

  10,846 b.c. (754 a.t.) Syllabary of Awines adopted.

  Governmental postal system, based on that of the temples, is adopted. First copper coins stamped.

  10,832 b.c. (768 a.t.) First trireme built. Coastal highway of stone blocks begun from Miklemres east and west. The hero Kethna circumnavigates the southern sea. This was originally called the Kemuketh but later became known as the Kemuwopar (the Sea of Opar).

  10,824 b.c. (776 a.t.) The city of Kethna founded. This will eventually control the strait and be a source of trouble to Khokarsa.

  10,810 b.c. (790 a.t.) The priestess-heroine Lupoeth discovers gold-, silver-, and diamond-bearing clay at site of Opar and founds a mining village. Depiction of deities as human-headed in art and sculpture spreads from Khokarsa.

  10,800 b.c. (800 a.t.) First Negro slaves brought into Opar.

  10,757 b.c (843 a.t.) A second Mikawuru (City of Pirates) founded on northwest shores of the Kemuketh. These settlers were not from Wethna, which had become respectable, but were criminals and political refugees from all over the northern sea is adopted. First copper coins stamped.

  10,700 b.c. (900 a.t.) Colonists from Mikawuru establish a stronghold on east coast of the Kemuwopar. It grows in later years into a city called Sakawuru.

  10,695 b.c. (905 a.t.) The city of Opar completed in all its grandeur. The port of Wentisuh founded by colonists from Siwudawa.

  10,600 b.c. (1000 a.t.) The climate is warmer and drier. The ice sheets in the Saasares are dwindling. A great plague and a series of earthquakes usher in another Time of Troubles. Revolts of tributary states and falling apart of the empire. K’opwam II murders his wife in attempt to impose patriarchy and flees to Miklemres during the uprising that follows. He is captured and sacrificed at the great temple. For a hundred years the chief priestesses of Khokarsa have husbands who are denied the kingship. Many temples of Resu torn down or converted to temples of Kho. Human sacrifice, except in times of great tribulation, is abandoned. This custom spreads throughout the two seas, except at Sakawuru.

  10,560 b.c. (1040 a.t.
) Beginning of the numatenu (heroes of the broadsword), a warlike class similar to the samurai. By custom, only the members of the numatenu are allowed to use the slightly curved, blunt-ended broadsword lately introduced, but this is not strictly observed.

  10,499 b.c. (1101 a.t.) The Klemqaba take Bawaku and massacre its citizens.

  10,490 b.c. (1110 a.t.) A combined Klemqaba and To-wina fleet attacks Dythbeth. A numatenu, Toenuseth, consort of Dythbeth’s chief priestess, destroys the fleet. His wife makes him the king, and he sets out on the conquest of the island of Khokarsa.

  10,485 b.c. (1115 a.t.) to 10,480 b.c. (1120 a.t.) Toenuseth conquers Saqaba and Kaarquth. The city of Towina, now an enemy of the Klemqaba, drives the Klemqaba from Bawaku with the aid of revolting Bawakans.

  10,478 b.c. (1122 a.t.) Toenuseth killed by a spear thrown by the chief priestess of Khokarsa during the siege of that city. This is considered a judgment of Kho, and it discourages the idea of the kingship for some years.