Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature
Encyclopedia
Many fictional works
of arcane literature appear in the Cthulhu Mythos
. The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoteric knowledge that is unknown to the general populace. However, in some cases the works themselves serve as an important plot device. Thus, in Robert Bloch's
tale "The Shambler from the Stars", a weird fiction writer seals his doom by casting a spell from the arcane book De Vermis Mysteriis
.
Another purpose of these tomes was to give members of the Lovecraft Circle
a means to pay homage to one another. Consequently, Clark Ashton Smith
used Lovecraft's Necronomicon
(his most prominent creation) in Smith's tale "Ubbo-Sathla". Likewise, Lovecraft used Robert E. Howard's
Nameless Cults in his tale "Out of the Aeons". Thereafter, these texts and others appear in the works of numerous other Mythos authors (who themselves added their own grimoire
s to the literary arcana), including August Derleth
, Lin Carter
, Brian Lumley
, and Ramsey Campbell
.
The Book of Eibon, or Liber Ivonis or Livre d'Eibon, is attributed to Clark Ashton Smith
. It appears in a number of Lovecraft's stories, such as "The Haunter of the Dark
" (Liber Ivonis), "The Dreams in the Witch House
" (Book of Eibon) and "The Shadow Out of Time
" (Book of Eibon).
The book was written by Eibon, a wizard in the land of Hyperborea. It was an immense text of arcane knowledge that contained, among other things, a detailed account of Eibon's exploits, including his journeys to the Vale of Pnath and the planet
Shaggai, his veneration rituals of Zhothaqquah
(Eibon's patron deity), and his magical formulae—such as for the slaying of certain otherworldly horrors. Unfortunately, only incomplete fragments of the original are thought to exist, though there are translations in English
, French
, and Latin
—Liber Ivonis is the title of the Latin translation.
Smith presents his short story "The Coming of the White Worm" as Chapter IX of the Book of Eibon.
and first appeared in his short story "Bells of Horror" (as Keith Hammond; 1939
). The original Book of Iod, of which only one copy exists, is written in the "Ancient Tongue", possibly a combination of Greek
and Coptic
. Although its origin is unknown, the book may have been written by the mysterious author "Khut-Nah," which sounds remarkably like Kuttner. The Book of Iod contains details about Iod, the Shining Hunter, Vorvados, and Zuchequon. The Huntington Library of San Marino, California
is said to hold an expurgated translation, possibly in Latin
, by Johann Negus.
The Book of Iod was also the title of a short-story collection published by Chaosium
in 1995, containing ten Cthulhu Mythos stories by Kuttner along with three related stories by Kuttner and Robert Bloch
, Lin Carter
, and Robert M. Price
.
The Trail of Cthulhu, "Celaeno" refers to a distant planet that contains a huge library of alien literature. Professor Laban Shrewsbury and his companions traveled to Celaeno several times to escape Cthulhu's minions. Shrewsbury later wrote the Celaeno Fragments, a transcript of what he remembered of his translations of the books in the Great Library of Celaeno. He submitted the transcript, which consisted of about fifty pages, to the Miskatonic University
library in 1915.
for his short story "The Cyprus Shell" (1968
). This text, by an unknown author, deals with Cthulhu
and other sea-horrors, such as Inpesca. It also contains many so-called Sathlattae, rituals and spells related to Ubbo-Sathla. It is first mentioned as appearing in northern Germany
around 400 AD. A Latin
version was apparently written between the 11th and 12th century, as was an English translation that appeared sometime in the 14th century.
(August Derleth claimed to have invented the fictional text, but this was denied by both Lovecraft and Bloch himself). It is a book of black magic
written by Francois-Honore Balfour (Comte d'Erlette) in 1702. It was published in France
and later denounced by the church. Only a handful of copies are in existence. One of the known copies was kept for 91 years in an arcane library of the Church of Starry Wisdom in Providence, Rhode Island
. After Robert Blake
’s mysterious death in 1935, Doctor Dexter removed the grimoire and added it to his library.
Cultes des Goules is mentioned numerous times in the works of Caitlin R. Kiernan
and plays an especially important role in her 2003
novel Low Red Moon. The text is also prominently mentioned in her short story "Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956)" — collected in To Charles Fort, With Love
(2005
).
The book "Cultes des Goules" is also mentioned in passing as being part of a collection that was discovered in the titular castle in the 1981 novel 'The Keep' but does not appear in the 1983 movie of the same name that was based on the book. A German officer flips through it and goes pale at what he sees or reads.
created by Robert Bloch
, first appearing in Bloch's short story
"The Shambler from the Stars" (1935
). It also appeared in Stephen King
's short story Jerusalem's Lot
.
) by Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. They are alluded to in passing as a semi-mythical collection of chants attributed to the almost-human people of Leng
. The chants themselves are never described, nor do they appear in any other of Lovecraft's works. August Derleth later used the chants in his stories "The Gable Window" (1957
), The Lurker at the Threshold
(1945
), and "The Shadow Out of Space" (1957).
Miskatonic University
's library is said to hold a copy of the Dhol Chants.
. The shards date to the Triassic
period and are covered with strange symbols thought to be untranslatable. Nonetheless, several authors have penned their own interpretations of the markings, including Gordon Whitney and his The Eltdown Shards: A Partial Translation. Many of these works, as well as a number of non-academic versions, have circulated among secretive cults.
Whitney's translation is remarkably similar to the Pnakotic Manuscripts
, a text produced by the Great Race of Yith
. The translation describes Yith, the planet from which the Great Race came, and the Great Race's fateful encounter with the Yekubians. A magical formula from the nineteenth shard is for the summoning of the "Warder of Knowledge"; unfortunately, the dismissal portion of the ritual is garbled, so the summoning of this being could prove calamitous. Despite its connections to the Great Race, the Eltdown Shards were most likely inscribed by the Elder Thing
s, who probably buried the ceramics in England when it was part of the great supercontinent Pangaea
.
. They are described as a set of miraculously preserved shards of obsidian
or some other black stone that record the history of the pre-human Africa
n city of G'harne. The lost city is located somewhere in the southern Sahara Desert and is currently a frequent haunt of the chthonians
.
The two primary translators of the fragments are Sir Amery Wendy-Smith and Gordon Walmsley. Both of these scholars died in Lumley's works: Sir Amery in "Cement Surroundings" (1969
) and Walmsley in "In the Vaults Beneath" (1971
).
. Its author is unknown and is believed to have committed suicide
after publishing it in 1889. The play is named after a mysterious supernatural figure featured in it, who is connected to a peculiar alien symbol, usually wrought in gold, called the Yellow Sign
. Though the first act is said to be "innocent", all who read the play's second act either go mad or suffer another terrible fate. Its setting and events include mysterious places and entities such as Carcosa
, Hastur
, and the Lake of Hali, names that Chambers borrowed from the writings of Ambrose Bierce
.
The play was first imagined in a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers
also named The King in Yellow, published in 1895
and set in a hypothetical year 1920. Lovecraft was a fan of the book and included references to the Lake of Hali and The Yellow Sign in his short story "The Whisperer in Darkness
" (1930
). August Derleth later expanded on this connection in his own stories, rendering Hastur as an evil deity related to Cthulhu and the King In Yellow as one of his incarnation
s.
", its details were significantly expanded in the story "History of the Necronomicon
" which helped provide continuity to its use for later authors.
's short story "Hydra" (1939
). It is an eight page pamphlet on astral projection
. The pamphlet appeared in Salem, Massachusetts
in 1783 and circulated among occult
groups. Most copies were destroyed in the wake of a series of grisly murders.
The first seven pages of the pamphlet contain vague mystic writing; however, the eighth page details a formula for effecting astral travel. Among the required ingredients are a brazier and the drug Cannabis indica
. The formula is always successful but has an unforeseen side effect: it invokes the horrid Outer God the Hydra.
and soothsayer to contain detailed account of the lineage of the Hyperborean gods, most notably Tsathoggua
.
. The Great Race is credited with authoring the Manuscripts, though other scribes would add to it over the ages. The first of H. P. Lovecraft's fictional texts it initially appears in his short story
Polaris
.
F. Paul Wilson
is among the authors who have referred to this collection in their own work; a collated version of the Manuscripts appears in Wilson's novel The Keep.
's short story "Out of the Ages" (1975
). The Scripture is a manuscript
found in the Caroline Islands
by Captain Abner Exekiel Hoag sometime around 1734. The book showed signs of great age—its pages were made of palm leaves and its binding was of an ancient, now-extinct cycad
ean wood. It was written in Naacal
(the language of Mu) and appears to have been authored by Imash-Mo, high priest of Ghatanothoa
, and his successors. The book contains details of Mu and of Zanthu, high priest of Ythogtha. With the help of his servant Yogash (hinted to be a Deep One hybrid
), Hoag managed to write a translation of the manuscript. But when he tried to have it published, his efforts were thwarted by religious leaders who strongly objected to the book's references to Dagon
. Nonetheless, copies of the Scripture have circulated among secretive cults
(such as the Esoteric Order of Dagon) and other occult
groups. After Hoag's death, his granddaughter, Beverly Hoag Adams, published an expurgated version of the book.
In contemporary times, other versions of the Ponape Scripture have seen print. Harold Hadley Copeland, a leading authority on the Scripture, produced a translation of the book, published in 1907
by Miskatonic University
Press. Copeland also cited the book in his work The Prehistoric Pacific in Light of the 'Ponape Scripture (1911
). The original version of the manuscript remains at the Kester Library in Salem, Massachusetts
.
's short story "The Inhabitant of the Lake" (1964
). It was written by the undead
cult worshipping the Great Old One Glaaki
. Whenever Glaaki slept, the members of his cult had periods of free will, and, since they were part of Glaaki and shared his memories, they wrote down what they remembered of their master's thoughts. The cult's handwritten manuscripts later came to be known as the Revelations of Glaaki. The text originally contained nine volumes, but it may have had more at different times in the past. Rumor has it that Mythos scholar Antonius Quine published a corrected edition of the Revelations of Glaaki bound in a single volume.
" (1926). In both stories, the books are mentioned in conjunction with the Pnakotic Manuscripts. They are kept in the temple of the Elder Ones in the city of Ulthar
; no other existing copies are mentioned in Lovecraft's works. Barzai the Wise studied the books before his journey to see the gods dancing on Mount Hatheg-Kla, while Randolph Carter
consulted them during his quest to reach Kadath.
The collection can be considered to be an analogue to the I Ching
, a Chinese text of cosmology and divination.
The Testament of Carnamagos was created by Clark Ashton Smith and first appeared in his short story "Xeethra" (1934
). The text is featured more prominently in Smith's "The Treader of the Dust" (1935
).
The book gives a description of the Great Old One Quachil Uttaus, among others. Only two copies are known of, though one was destroyed during the Spanish Inquisition
. The only remaining copy is bound in shagreen and fastened with hasps of human bone.
and was written by the fictional Friedrich von Junzt. Howard originally called the book Nameless Cults in the story The Children of the Night, but Lovecraft and Derleth gave it the German title which can translate to either Unspeakable Cults or Unpronouncable Cults (both meaning of the word are in common usage).
), by Lin Carter. The centerpiece of the story is the discovery of the tablets, which are an important part of Carter's Xothic legend cycle
.
The tablets themselves are twelve engraved pieces of black jade
inscribed by Zanthu, a wizard and high priest of Ythogtha. They are written in a hieratic form of Naacal
, the language of the sunken continent of Mu. The tablets reveal a partial history of Mu, describing Zanthu's struggle against the rising cult of Ghatanothoa
and his own religion's lamented decline. He also describes his failed attempt to release the god Ythogtha from its prison. Upon witnessing three black, beaked, slimy heads, "vaster than any mountain", rising from a gorge, he flees in terror when he realizes that they are merely the god's fingertips. According to Zanthu, he and some of his people escaped the destruction of Mu, which was sunk by the wrath of the Elder Gods.
In 1913, guided by the Ponape Script, Harold Hadley Copeland led an expedition into Indochina
to locate the plateau of Tsang and to find the tomb of Zanthu. After the other members of the expedition died or deserted him, Copeland pressed on, eventually reaching his goal. Opening the tomb, he was horrified to discover that the mummified face of Zanthu resembled his own. Later wandering into a Mongolian outpost, a starving and raving Copeland was the only survivor of the expedition.
Copeland published a brochure entitled The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural Translation in 1916. He made the rough translation using a key borrowed from the estate of Colonel Churchward, the last qualified translator of ancient Naacal
, and heavily edited it out of a concern for "public sanity". The controversial brochure was later denounced by the academic community and was suppressed by the authorities. Copeland's later manuscripts were never published. Ten years after the publication of the brochure, Copeland died in an asylum.
Fictional book
A fictional book is a book that sometimes provides the basis of the plot of a story, a common thread in a series of books, or the works of a particular writer or canon of work. A fictional book may also be used as a mode of conceit to illustrate a story within a story.-Prominent fictional...
of arcane literature appear in the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
. The main literary purpose of these works is to explain how characters within the tales come by occult or esoteric knowledge that is unknown to the general populace. However, in some cases the works themselves serve as an important plot device. Thus, in Robert Bloch's
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
tale "The Shambler from the Stars", a weird fiction writer seals his doom by casting a spell from the arcane book De Vermis Mysteriis
De Vermis Mysteriis
De Vermis Mysteriis, or Mysteries of the Worm, is a fictional grimoire created by Robert Bloch and incorporated by H. P. Lovecraft into the lore of the Cthulhu Mythos.-Creation:...
.
Another purpose of these tomes was to give members of the Lovecraft Circle
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
a means to pay homage to one another. Consequently, Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
used Lovecraft's Necronomicon
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
(his most prominent creation) in Smith's tale "Ubbo-Sathla". Likewise, Lovecraft used Robert E. Howard's
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
Nameless Cults in his tale "Out of the Aeons". Thereafter, these texts and others appear in the works of numerous other Mythos authors (who themselves added their own grimoire
Grimoire
A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Such books typically include instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination and also how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons...
s to the literary arcana), including August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
, Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
, Brian Lumley
Brian Lumley
Brian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...
, and Ramsey Campbell
Ramsey Campbell
John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
.
| Contents: | B C D E G K N O P R S T U Z |
| See also—References—Notes—External links |
Book of Eibon
. . . The Book of Eibon, that strangest and rarest of occult forgotten volumes ... is said to have come down through a series of manifold translations from a prehistoric original written in the lost language of HyperboreaHyperborean cycleThe Hyperborean cycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea . Various elements in Smith's cycle have been borrowed by H. P. Lovecraft, most notably the "toad-god" Tsathoggua...
.
—Clark Ashton Smith, "Ubbo-Sathla"
The Book of Eibon, or Liber Ivonis or Livre d'Eibon, is attributed to Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
. It appears in a number of Lovecraft's stories, such as "The Haunter of the Dark
The Haunter of the Dark
"The Haunter of the Dark" is a horror story in the Cthulhu Mythos genre. It was written by H. P. Lovecraft in November 1935, and published in the December 1936 edition of Weird Tales...
" (Liber Ivonis), "The Dreams in the Witch House
The Dreams in the Witch House
"The Dreams in the Witch House" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction. Written in January/February 1932, it was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales.-Inspiration:...
" (Book of Eibon) and "The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...
" (Book of Eibon).
The book was written by Eibon, a wizard in the land of Hyperborea. It was an immense text of arcane knowledge that contained, among other things, a detailed account of Eibon's exploits, including his journeys to the Vale of Pnath and the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
Shaggai, his veneration rituals of Zhothaqquah
Tsathoggua
Tsathoggua is a fictional supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle....
(Eibon's patron deity), and his magical formulae—such as for the slaying of certain otherworldly horrors. Unfortunately, only incomplete fragments of the original are thought to exist, though there are translations in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
—Liber Ivonis is the title of the Latin translation.
Smith presents his short story "The Coming of the White Worm" as Chapter IX of the Book of Eibon.
- See also Book of Eibon in popular culture
Book of Iod
The Book of Iod was created by Henry KuttnerHenry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...
and first appeared in his short story "Bells of Horror" (as Keith Hammond; 1939
1939 in literature
The year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*December 25 - A Christmas Carol is read before a radio audience for the first time....
). The original Book of Iod, of which only one copy exists, is written in the "Ancient Tongue", possibly a combination of Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
. Although its origin is unknown, the book may have been written by the mysterious author "Khut-Nah," which sounds remarkably like Kuttner. The Book of Iod contains details about Iod, the Shining Hunter, Vorvados, and Zuchequon. The Huntington Library of San Marino, California
San Marino, California
San Marino is a small, affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. Incorporated in 1913, the City founders designed the community to be uniquely residential, with expansive properties surrounded by beautiful gardens, wide streets, and well maintained parkways...
is said to hold an expurgated translation, possibly in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, by Johann Negus.
The Book of Iod was also the title of a short-story collection published by Chaosium
Chaosium
Chaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of role-playing games still in existence. Founded by Greg Stafford, its first game was actually a wargame, White Bear and Red Moon, which later mutated into Dragon Pass and its sequel, Nomad Gods...
in 1995, containing ten Cthulhu Mythos stories by Kuttner along with three related stories by Kuttner and Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
, Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
, and Robert M. Price
Robert M. Price
Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, including...
.
Celaeno Fragments
The Celaeno Fragments is credited to August Derleth. In his novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Trail of Cthulhu, "Celaeno" refers to a distant planet that contains a huge library of alien literature. Professor Laban Shrewsbury and his companions traveled to Celaeno several times to escape Cthulhu's minions. Shrewsbury later wrote the Celaeno Fragments, a transcript of what he remembered of his translations of the books in the Great Library of Celaeno. He submitted the transcript, which consisted of about fifty pages, to the Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...
library in 1915.
Cthäat Aquadingen
The Cthäat Aquadingen, possibly meaning Things of the Water, was created by Brian LumleyBrian Lumley
Brian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...
for his short story "The Cyprus Shell" (1968
1968 in literature
The year 1968 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest is published....
). This text, by an unknown author, deals with Cthulhu
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...
and other sea-horrors, such as Inpesca. It also contains many so-called Sathlattae, rituals and spells related to Ubbo-Sathla. It is first mentioned as appearing in northern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
around 400 AD. A Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
version was apparently written between the 11th and 12th century, as was an English translation that appeared sometime in the 14th century.
Cultes des Goules
Cultes des Goules, or Cults of Ghouls, was created by Robert BlochRobert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
(August Derleth claimed to have invented the fictional text, but this was denied by both Lovecraft and Bloch himself). It is a book of black magic
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
written by Francois-Honore Balfour (Comte d'Erlette) in 1702. It was published in France
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...
and later denounced by the church. Only a handful of copies are in existence. One of the known copies was kept for 91 years in an arcane library of the Church of Starry Wisdom in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. After Robert Blake
Robert Harrison Blake
Robert Harrison Blake is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. The character is the creation of H. P. Lovecraft and appears in his short story "The Haunter of the Dark" .-Summary:...
’s mysterious death in 1935, Doctor Dexter removed the grimoire and added it to his library.
Cultes des Goules is mentioned numerous times in the works of Caitlin R. Kiernan
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including seven novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes, and numerous scientific papers.- Overview :Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States...
and plays an especially important role in her 2003
2003 in literature
The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
novel Low Red Moon. The text is also prominently mentioned in her short story "Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956)" — collected in To Charles Fort, With Love
To Charles Fort, With Love
To Charles Fort, With Love is a short-story collection by fantasist Caitlin R. Kiernan, published by Subterranean Press in 2005. As the author explains in the preface, many of these stories were inspired by the writings of Charles Fort , and many of them have a Lovecraftian flavor...
(2005
2005 in literature
The year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....
).
The book "Cultes des Goules" is also mentioned in passing as being part of a collection that was discovered in the titular castle in the 1981 novel 'The Keep' but does not appear in the 1983 movie of the same name that was based on the book. A German officer flips through it and goes pale at what he sees or reads.
De Vermis Mysteriis
De Vermis Mysteriis, or Mysteries of the Worm, is a grimoireGrimoire
A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Such books typically include instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination and also how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons...
created by Robert Bloch
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
, first appearing in Bloch's 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...
"The Shambler from the Stars" (1935
1935 in literature
The year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
). It also appeared in Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's short story Jerusalem's Lot
Jerusalem's Lot
"Jerusalem's Lot" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.-Setting and style:"Jerusalem's Lot" is an epistolary short story set in the fictional town of Preacher's Corners, Maine, in 1850...
.
Dhol Chants
The Dhol Chants was first mentioned in the short story "The Horror In The Museum" (19321932 in literature
The year 1932 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. V. Knox replaces Sir Owen Seaman as editor of Punch magazine.*Samuel Beckett's first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, is rejected by several publishers....
) by Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. They are alluded to in passing as a semi-mythical collection of chants attributed to the almost-human people of Leng
Leng
Leng is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, whose location seems to vary entirely from story to story. The Plateau of Tsang, referenced by H. P...
. The chants themselves are never described, nor do they appear in any other of Lovecraft's works. August Derleth later used the chants in his stories "The Gable Window" (1957
1957 in literature
The year 1957 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Lawrence Durrell publishes the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet. The final of the four volumes will be published in 1960....
), The Lurker at the Threshold
The Lurker at the Threshold
The Lurker at the Threshold is a short novel in the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror. It was written in 1945 by August Derleth, based on two short fragments written by H. P. Lovecraft, who died in 1937, and published as a collaboration between the two authors. According to S. T...
(1945
1945 in literature
The year 1945 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 1 - The magazine Ebony is published for the first time.*Noel Coward's short play, Still Life, is adapted to become the film, Brief Encounter....
), and "The Shadow Out of Space" (1957).
Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...
's library is said to hold a copy of the Dhol Chants.
Eltdown Shards
The Eltdown Shards are mentioned in numerous mythos stories. They are mysterious pottery fragments found in 1882 and named after the place where they were discovered, Eltdown in southern EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The shards date to the Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
period and are covered with strange symbols thought to be untranslatable. Nonetheless, several authors have penned their own interpretations of the markings, including Gordon Whitney and his The Eltdown Shards: A Partial Translation. Many of these works, as well as a number of non-academic versions, have circulated among secretive cults.
Whitney's translation is remarkably similar to the Pnakotic Manuscripts
Pnakotic Manuscripts
The Pnakotic Manuscripts is a fictional manuscript in the Cthulhu Mythos. The tome was created by H. P. Lovecraft and first appeared in his short story "Polaris"...
, a text produced by the Great Race of Yith
Great Race of Yith
The Great Race of Yith are aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Out of Time" . They are called the Great Race because they are the only beings to have mastered time travel...
. The translation describes Yith, the planet from which the Great Race came, and the Great Race's fateful encounter with the Yekubians. A magical formula from the nineteenth shard is for the summoning of the "Warder of Knowledge"; unfortunately, the dismissal portion of the ritual is garbled, so the summoning of this being could prove calamitous. Despite its connections to the Great Race, the Eltdown Shards were most likely inscribed by the Elder Thing
Elder Thing
The Elder Things are fictional extraterrestrials in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings first appeared, although not named in H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Dreams in the Witch-House"...
s, who probably buried the ceramics in England when it was part of the great supercontinent Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
.
G'harne Fragments
The G'harne Fragments first appeared in Cement Surroundings, a work of Brian LumleyBrian Lumley
Brian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...
. They are described as a set of miraculously preserved shards of obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
or some other black stone that record the history of the pre-human Africa
Africa
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...
n city of G'harne. The lost city is located somewhere in the southern Sahara Desert and is currently a frequent haunt of the chthonians
Chthonian (Cthulhu Mythos)
Chthonians are fictional creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos. The species is the creation of Brian Lumley and was first featured in his short story "Cement Surroundings" —though the creature never made a direct appearance...
.
The two primary translators of the fragments are Sir Amery Wendy-Smith and Gordon Walmsley. Both of these scholars died in Lumley's works: Sir Amery in "Cement Surroundings" (1969
1969 in literature
The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...
) and Walmsley in "In the Vaults Beneath" (1971
1971 in literature
The year 1971 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles wins the UK's first Whitbread Novel of the Year Award.-New books:*Hiroshi Aramata - Teito Monogatari...
).
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a widely-censored playPlay (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
. Its author is unknown and is believed to have committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after publishing it in 1889. The play is named after a mysterious supernatural figure featured in it, who is connected to a peculiar alien symbol, usually wrought in gold, called the Yellow Sign
Yellow Sign
The Yellow Sign is a fictional symbol or glyph, first described in Robert Chambers' book of horror short stories The King in Yellow .-The King in Yellow:The King in Yellow never fully describes the shape and purpose of the Yellow Sign...
. Though the first act is said to be "innocent", all who read the play's second act either go mad or suffer another terrible fate. Its setting and events include mysterious places and entities such as Carcosa
Carcosa
Carcosa is a fictional city in the Ambrose Bierce short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" . In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight by a character who once lived there....
, Hastur
Hastur
Hastur is a fictional entity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benign god of shepherds. Robert W...
, and the Lake of Hali, names that Chambers borrowed from the writings of Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
.
The play was first imagined in a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
also named The King in Yellow, published in 1895
1895 in literature
The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....
and set in a hypothetical year 1920. Lovecraft was a fan of the book and included references to the Lake of Hali and The Yellow Sign in his short story "The Whisperer in Darkness
The Whisperer in Darkness
"The Whisperer in Darkness" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to "The Colour Out of Space" , it is a blend of horror and science fiction...
" (1930
1930 in literature
The year 1930 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 6 - The first literary character licensing agreement is signed by A. A. Milne, granting Stephen Slesinger U.S...
). August Derleth later expanded on this connection in his own stories, rendering Hastur as an evil deity related to Cthulhu and the King In Yellow as one of his incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
s.
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is arguably the most famous (or infamous) of Lovecraft's grimoires. It appears in a number of Lovecraft's stories, as well as in the writings of other authors. First appearing in Lovecraft's "The HoundThe Hound
This page deals with the H. P. Lovecraft short story. For the character from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, see Sandor Clegane"The Hound" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in September 1922 and published in the February 1924 issue of Weird Tales...
", its details were significantly expanded in the story "History of the Necronomicon
History of the Necronomicon
"History of the Necronomicon" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1927, and published in 1938. It describes the fictional book the Necronomicon, a now-famous element used in several of his stories....
" which helped provide continuity to its use for later authors.
On the Sending Out of the Soul
On the Sending Out of the Soul appears in Henry KuttnerHenry Kuttner
Henry Kuttner was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.-Early life:Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915...
's short story "Hydra" (1939
1939 in literature
The year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*December 25 - A Christmas Carol is read before a radio audience for the first time....
). It is an eight page pamphlet on astral projection
Astral projection
Astral projection is an interpretation of out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it...
. The pamphlet appeared in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
in 1783 and circulated among occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
groups. Most copies were destroyed in the wake of a series of grisly murders.
The first seven pages of the pamphlet contain vague mystic writing; however, the eighth page details a formula for effecting astral travel. Among the required ingredients are a brazier and the drug Cannabis indica
Cannabis indica
Cannabis indica is an annual plant in the Cannabaceae family. A putative species of the genus Cannabis, it is typically distinguished from Cannabis sativa. Schultes described C. indica as relatively short, conical, and densely branched, whereas C. sativa was described as tall and laxly branched...
. The formula is always successful but has an unforeseen side effect: it invokes the horrid Outer God the Hydra.
Parchments of Pnom
The Parchments of Pnom is first referenced in Clark Ashton Smith's "The Coming of the White Worm." It is described as a manuscript written in Hyperborea's "Elder Script" by that land's leading genealogistGenealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
and soothsayer to contain detailed account of the lineage of the Hyperborean gods, most notably Tsathoggua
Tsathoggua
Tsathoggua is a fictional supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle....
.
Pnakotic Manuscripts
The Pnakotic Manuscripts is named after the place where it was kept, the city of Pnakotus, a primordial metropolis built by the Great Race of YithGreat Race of Yith
The Great Race of Yith are aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Out of Time" . They are called the Great Race because they are the only beings to have mastered time travel...
. The Great Race is credited with authoring the Manuscripts, though other scribes would add to it over the ages. The first of H. P. Lovecraft's fictional texts it initially appears in his 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...
Polaris
Polaris (short story)
"Polaris" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1918 and first published in the December 1920 issue of the amateur journal The Philosopher...
.
F. Paul Wilson
F. Paul Wilson
Francis Paul Wilson is an American author, primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer . Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog while still in medical school , and continued to write science fiction...
is among the authors who have referred to this collection in their own work; a collated version of the Manuscripts appears in Wilson's novel The Keep.
Ponape Scripture
The Ponape Scripture first appeared in Lin CarterLin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
's short story "Out of the Ages" (1975
1975 in literature
The year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
). The Scripture is a manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
found in the Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
by Captain Abner Exekiel Hoag sometime around 1734. The book showed signs of great age—its pages were made of palm leaves and its binding was of an ancient, now-extinct cycad
Cycad
Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
ean wood. It was written in Naacal
Naacal
Naacal is the name of an ancient people and civilization claimed to have existed by first Augustus Le Plongeon and later James Churchward. Though there is no scientific or archaeological evidence for the existence of the Naacals, various later fictional works have made use of them.-Augustus Le...
(the language of Mu) and appears to have been authored by Imash-Mo, high priest of Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being first appeared in the short story "Out Of The Aeons" by H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. It is a large, amorphous, exceptionally hideous being comparable to Medusa.-Summary:...
, and his successors. The book contains details of Mu and of Zanthu, high priest of Ythogtha. With the help of his servant Yogash (hinted to be a Deep One hybrid
Deep One
The Deep Ones are creatures in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The beings first appeared in Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"...
), Hoag managed to write a translation of the manuscript. But when he tried to have it published, his efforts were thwarted by religious leaders who strongly objected to the book's references to Dagon
Dagon (short story)
"Dagon" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in July 1917, one of the first stories he wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919 edition of The Vagrant .-Inspiration:...
. Nonetheless, copies of the Scripture have circulated among secretive cults
Cthulhu Mythos cults
A number of fictional cults appear in the Cthulhu Mythos. Many of these cults serve the Outer God Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, a protean deity that appears in a myriad of guises...
(such as the Esoteric Order of Dagon) and other occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
groups. After Hoag's death, his granddaughter, Beverly Hoag Adams, published an expurgated version of the book.
In contemporary times, other versions of the Ponape Scripture have seen print. Harold Hadley Copeland, a leading authority on the Scripture, produced a translation of the book, published in 1907
1907 in literature
The year 1907 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* June 26 - Mark Twain receives an honorary doctorate of laws degree from Oxford University.*James Joyce meets Ettore Schmitz for the first time....
by Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...
Press. Copeland also cited the book in his work The Prehistoric Pacific in Light of the 'Ponape Scripture (1911
1911 in literature
The year 1911 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*George Moore publishes the first of his three-volume Hail and Farewell .*Gallimard publishing house founded in Paris by Gaston Gallimard...
). The original version of the manuscript remains at the Kester Library in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
.
Revelations of Glaaki
The Revelations of Glaaki first appeared in Ramsey CampbellRamsey Campbell
John Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
's short story "The Inhabitant of the Lake" (1964
1964 in literature
The year 1964 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jean-Paul Sartre becomes head of the Organization to Defend Iranian Political Prisoners....
). It was written by the undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
cult worshipping the Great Old One Glaaki
Glaaki
Glaaki is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos. Glaaki first appeared in "The Inhabitant of the Lake" , an early story by Ramsey Campbell.-Glaaki in the mythos:...
. Whenever Glaaki slept, the members of his cult had periods of free will, and, since they were part of Glaaki and shared his memories, they wrote down what they remembered of their master's thoughts. The cult's handwritten manuscripts later came to be known as the Revelations of Glaaki. The text originally contained nine volumes, but it may have had more at different times in the past. Rumor has it that Mythos scholar Antonius Quine published a corrected edition of the Revelations of Glaaki bound in a single volume.
Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan is a collection of writings first mentioned by Lovecraft in "The Other Gods" (1921) and again in "The Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...
" (1926). In both stories, the books are mentioned in conjunction with the Pnakotic Manuscripts. They are kept in the temple of the Elder Ones in the city of Ulthar
Ulthar
Ulthar is both a fictional town and a fictional deity. The town of Ulthar is part of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, appearing in such stories as The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath , "The Cats of Ulthar" and "The Other Gods" .-Town:...
; no other existing copies are mentioned in Lovecraft's works. Barzai the Wise studied the books before his journey to see the gods dancing on Mount Hatheg-Kla, while Randolph Carter
Randolph Carter
Randolph Carter is a recurring protagonist in H. P. Lovecraft'sfiction and a thinly disguised alter ego of Lovecraft himself. The first tale in which Carter appears--"The Statement of Randolph Carter" --is based on one of Lovecraft's dreams....
consulted them during his quest to reach Kadath.
The collection can be considered to be an analogue to the I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
, a Chinese text of cosmology and divination.
Testament of Carnamagos
Now, as he sat there in a state half terror, half stupor, his eyes were drawn to the wizard volume before him: the writings of that evil sage and seer, Carnamagos, which had been recovered a thousand years agone from some Graeco-Bactrian tomb, and transcribed by an apostate monk in the original Greek, in the blood of an incubus-begotten monster. In that volume were the chronicles of great sorcerers of old, and the histories of demons earthly and ultra-cosmic, and the veritable spells by which the demons could be called up and controlled and dismissed.
—Clark Ashton Smith, "The Treader of the Dust"
The Testament of Carnamagos was created by Clark Ashton Smith and first appeared in his short story "Xeethra" (1934
1934 in literature
The year 1934 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Flash Gordon comic strip is published.*Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky are among those present at the first Congress of the Soviet Union of Writers....
). The text is featured more prominently in Smith's "The Treader of the Dust" (1935
1935 in literature
The year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
).
The book gives a description of the Great Old One Quachil Uttaus, among others. Only two copies are known of, though one was destroyed during the Spanish Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
. The only remaining copy is bound in shagreen and fastened with hasps of human bone.
Unaussprechlichen Kulten
Unaussprechlichen Kulten was created by Robert E. HowardRobert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
and was written by the fictional Friedrich von Junzt. Howard originally called the book Nameless Cults in the story The Children of the Night, but Lovecraft and Derleth gave it the German title which can translate to either Unspeakable Cults or Unpronouncable Cults (both meaning of the word are in common usage).
Zanthu Tablets
The Zanthu Tablets first appeared in "The Dweller in the Tomb" (19711971 in literature
The year 1971 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles wins the UK's first Whitbread Novel of the Year Award.-New books:*Hiroshi Aramata - Teito Monogatari...
), by Lin Carter. The centerpiece of the story is the discovery of the tablets, which are an important part of Carter's Xothic legend cycle
Xothic legend cycle
The Xothic legend cycle is a series of short stories by Lin Carter that are based on the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. The cycle is centered on a trinity of deities said to be the "sons" of Cthulhu: Ghatanothoa, Ythogtha, and Zoth-Ommog...
.
The tablets themselves are twelve engraved pieces of black jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
inscribed by Zanthu, a wizard and high priest of Ythogtha. They are written in a hieratic form of Naacal
Naacal
Naacal is the name of an ancient people and civilization claimed to have existed by first Augustus Le Plongeon and later James Churchward. Though there is no scientific or archaeological evidence for the existence of the Naacals, various later fictional works have made use of them.-Augustus Le...
, the language of the sunken continent of Mu. The tablets reveal a partial history of Mu, describing Zanthu's struggle against the rising cult of Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa
Ghatanothoa is a fictional deity in the Cthulhu Mythos. The being first appeared in the short story "Out Of The Aeons" by H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. It is a large, amorphous, exceptionally hideous being comparable to Medusa.-Summary:...
and his own religion's lamented decline. He also describes his failed attempt to release the god Ythogtha from its prison. Upon witnessing three black, beaked, slimy heads, "vaster than any mountain", rising from a gorge, he flees in terror when he realizes that they are merely the god's fingertips. According to Zanthu, he and some of his people escaped the destruction of Mu, which was sunk by the wrath of the Elder Gods.
In 1913, guided by the Ponape Script, Harold Hadley Copeland led an expedition into Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
to locate the plateau of Tsang and to find the tomb of Zanthu. After the other members of the expedition died or deserted him, Copeland pressed on, eventually reaching his goal. Opening the tomb, he was horrified to discover that the mummified face of Zanthu resembled his own. Later wandering into a Mongolian outpost, a starving and raving Copeland was the only survivor of the expedition.
Copeland published a brochure entitled The Zanthu Tablets: A Conjectural Translation in 1916. He made the rough translation using a key borrowed from the estate of Colonel Churchward, the last qualified translator of ancient Naacal
Naacal
Naacal is the name of an ancient people and civilization claimed to have existed by first Augustus Le Plongeon and later James Churchward. Though there is no scientific or archaeological evidence for the existence of the Naacals, various later fictional works have made use of them.-Augustus Le...
, and heavily edited it out of a concern for "public sanity". The controversial brochure was later denounced by the academic community and was suppressed by the authorities. Copeland's later manuscripts were never published. Ten years after the publication of the brochure, Copeland died in an asylum.
See also
- Cthulhu Mythos miscellaneous booksCthulhu Mythos miscellaneous booksThe following is a list of miscellaneous books — both real and fictitious — appearing in the Cthulhu Mythos.-Overview:The following table is organized as follows:*Title. The title of the work as it appears in the Cthulhu Mythos....
- Book of Eibon in popular culture
External links
- Mythos Tomes, a web site dedicated to the forbidden tomes of the Cthulhu Mythos
- The Dan Clore Necronomicon Page Everything You Never Wanted To Know About The Necronomicon (Al Azif) Of The Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred But Weren't Afraid Enough To Know Better Than To Ask!