40 replies to this topic

[sat]

I suspect most, if not all, Conan fans have read or heard this quote:

"Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia,Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold.  But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. 
Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the earth under his sandled feet."
- The Nemedian Chronicles

Who created that?

And where was it first used?

[TwZtdJuGGalo]

Robert E. Howard created it and it appeared with the first Conan story "The Phoenix on Sword", published in December, 1932. His words end at " ...under his sandaled feet." Anymore added junk you might read was written by deCamp.

[blacksagelobo]

The Nemedian Chronicles was written by REH as an introduction to his first published Conan story "The Phoenix on the Sword."

REH added it because the first draft of the story he sent to Weird Tales was rejected and the rewrite cut some important info about Conan.

The Coming of Conan will have this first draft. For me, the insight into Conan's character, from the first draft is invaluable. To my knowledge, it was never given elsewhere in the saga.

[Bri]

I have read that many times in the SAVAGE SWORD magazine, but has that quote been printed in any of the paperbacks? As part of an introduction perhaps? I seem to recall reading it in one of the novels.

-Bri

[matsellah]

And never did it have the words "HIGH ADVENTURE!"

Heh... Just thought I'd throw that in there.

[Kane]

I've always wondered were that intro came from. for years I thought that it was added by de Camp and then expanded by Roy Thomas.

Thanks for the explanation.

[alex]

I thought we were talking probable outline for a moment.

[Matt Spencer]

... 'cause I can't seem to find it anywhere in either of my Conan collections, yet it's such a cool passage that it's pretty much been canonically inducted into the Conan mythology. If Howard didn't write it, who did?

[Merlin]

Yes, that passage from the Nemedian Chronicles begins "The Phoenix on the Sword", the first Conan story. Howard wrote it when Farnsworth Wright asked him to condense the first two chapters of his submitted draft.

[Jack T. Chance]

... 'cause I can't seem to find it anywhere in either of my Conan collections, yet it's such a cool passage that it's pretty much been canonically inducted into the Conan mythology. If Howard didn't write it, who did?

No offense intended, but it sounds like your collections aren't as good as they should be.

I recommend picking up a copy of Del Rey's The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian at your earliest convenience.

[Matt Spencer]

Actually, I have all the Conan stories ... I just hadn't previously spotted that particular poem there, so thanks.

In general, when it comes to stories that epigraph chapter headings with poetry/song lyric/etc. excerpts, I'm predisposed to sometimes reading, sometimes not, according to whim. Howard's tend to be more rewarding than most, though.

[yimsha]

'...with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth' etc etc etc...


I just assumed it was a Howard quote, but not actually sure. If it is, where's it from?

[War Song]

Robert E. Howard's "The Phoenix on the Sword" (1932)

Edited by War Song, 24 April 2007 - 10:37 PM.

[Kortoso]

It's troubling that even the best of us credit this to "The Nemedian Chronicles" and not the actual tale in which it appears.

The formula "Know, O prince..." was used in many ancient works, including the Mahabharata:

Know, O prince, that those things which thou regardest as existing are in reality non-existent.

[timeless]

Maybe only princes had access to written information back then...

[Ironhand]

Certainly princes must have known more than anybody else, since philosophers were always telling them stuff.

[Kortoso]

That's what Machiavelli thought.

[Maelstrom]

O.K., maybe this is a stupid question, but I would like to know how much information there is pertaining to the "Nemedian Chronicles," specifically, is there more to them than the introduction to "The Phoenix on the Sword"? Is is possible there is a complete "Nemedian Chronicle" or other fragmented parts of them?

[deuce]

O.K., maybe this is a stupid question, but I would like to know how much information there is pertaining to the "Nemedian Chronicles," specifically, is there more to them than the introduction to "The Phoenix on the Sword"? Is is possible there is a complete "Nemedian Chronicle" or other fragmented parts of them?

Hey Maelstrom! The "Nemedian Chronicles" are a bit of an orphan, and as far as I know(?) aren't mentioned anywhere else in the Conan yarns. Basically, Farnsworth Wright (editor of Weird Tales) asked REH to shorten "PotS". Howard did this by creating the "NC" as a chapter heading. He never refers to the "NC" again. In the "Black Eons" fragment, REH has his "Allison" character state that Friedrich Wilhelm von Junzt (the German author of Nameless Cults) was the savant who "rediscovered" the Hyborian Age. The thing is, if you read the "Chronicles" closely, you see that the tutor/vizier/"wazir" who's instructing the "Prince" can't be a ("Hyborian Age") Nemedian. He calls the Hyborian Age "an Age undreamed of". He notes the rise of the "Sons of Aryas" (Indo-Europeans/"Aryans"). Both indicate that he's speaking from the vantage point of historical/"dreamed of" times (ie, post-early Sumerian/Egyptian/the last 5000yrs).

According to Howard, there were "other" Nemedians. They were the "Brythonic" descendants of the Hyborian Age (Aesir) Nemedians. They settled Ireland before the Gaelic (Cimmerian) Celts showed up. In the "Dark Ages", Ireland was a main center of learning in Europe. Ireland exported scholars as far away as Kiev. The Irish also founded many monasteries in Germany. The Irish "brain drain" accelerated with the Norse invasions of Ireland. Many Irish scholars went to Germany. Perhaps there was a German "prince" (a son of Otto the Great?) who asked his Irish tutor about the days of old. The monk might have said, "Know, oh prince..." Ol' von Junzt could've just discovered the one surviving manuscript from that scholar's tutorial.

[Kortoso]

Deuce, that's a great back-story. Would the Conan "yarns" be themselves the body of the Nemedian Chronicles? Another thing, I think that the Cimmerians were already there when the Nemedians arrived, no?