King Solomon's Mines: Difference between revisions

'''''King Solomon's Mines''''' (1885) is aan 1885 [[popular fiction|popular novel]]<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: ''King Solomon's Mines'' by H. Rider Haggard|journal=The Athenaeum|issue=3027|page=568|date=31 October 1885|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101077276432;view=1up;seq=362}}</ref> by the English [[Victorian literature|Victorian]] adventure writer and [[fable|fabulist]] [[Sir [[H. Rider Haggard]]. It tells of aan searchexpedition ofthrough an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by [[Allan Quatermain]], searching for the missing brother of one of the party. It is one of the first English [[adventure novel]]s set in Africa and is considered to be the genesis of the [[lost world]] [[literary genre]]. It is the first of fourteen novels and four short stories by Haggard about Allan Quatermain. Haggard dedicated this book to his childhood idol [[Sir Humphry Davy]].

The book was first published in September 1885 amid considerable fanfare, with billboards and posters around London announcing "The Most Amazing Book Ever Written". It became an immediate best seller.<ref name="encl">{{cite web |last1=Wells |first1=Colin |title=King Solomon’s Mines |url=https://arc.net/l/quote/cklztruc |website=www.encyclopedia.com |access-date=7 July 2024 |language=en}}</ref> By the late 19th century, explorers were uncovering [[ancient civilisations|ancient civilisations and their remains]] around the world, such as Egypt's [[Valley of the Kings]] and the empire of [[Assyria]]. Inner Africa remained [[European exploration of Africa|largely unexplored]] and ''King Solomon's Mines'', one of the first novels of African adventure published in English, captured the public's imagination.<ref name="encl"/>

The "[[Solomon|King Solomon]]" of the book's title is the legendary Biblical king renowned both for his wisdom and for his wealth. A number of sites have been suggested as the location of his mines, including the workings at the [[Timna valley]] near [[Eilat]]. Research published in September 2013 has shown that this site was in use during the 10th century BCEBC as a copper mine possibly by the [[Edomites]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://phys.org/news/2013-09-proof-solomon-israel.html |title=Proof of Solomon's mines found in Israel |work=Phys.org |access-date=2014-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Proof of Solomon's mines found in Israel|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/proof-of-solomons-copper-mines-found-in-israel/2013/09/08/|access-date=17 September 2013|newspaper=The Jewish Press|date=8 September 2013 }}</ref> who, the Bible reports, were rivals of and frequently at war with King Solomon.<ref>[[Edom#Hebrew Bible]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_05562.html |title=Edom |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=2014-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Boyle|first=Alan|title=Reality check on King Solomon's mines: Right era, wrong kingdom|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/reality-check-king-solomons-mines-right-era-wrong-kingdom-f8C11073742|access-date=16 February 2014|newspaper=NBC News|date=5 September 2013}}</ref> The Bible does refer to King Solomon having sent out, in partnership with his Phoenician allies, trading expeditions along the Red Sea, which brought exotic wares and animals from Africa to Jerusalem. Muslim traders in [[Sofala]] told Portuguese travellers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the region's gold mines belonged to King Solomon and that he built the now-ruined [[Great Zimbabwe]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Scott T. |last=Carroll |title=Solomonic Legend: The Muslims and the Great Zimbabwe |journal=International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=21 |issue=2 |year=1988 |pages=233–247 |doi=10.2307/219935 |jstor=219935 }}</ref>

[[File:Walter Paget - H. Rider Haggard - King Solomon's Mines - To those who enter the hall of dead.jpg|thumb|"To those who enter the hall of the dead, evil comes"; [[Walter Paget (illustrator)|Walter Paget]]]]

[[Allan Quatermain]], an adventurer and [[white hunter]] based in the African city of [[Durban]],{{refn|Located in what is now South Africa,.|group=N}} is approached by aristocrat [[Sir Henry Curtis]] and his friend Captain Good, seeking his help finding Sir Henry's brother, who was last seen travelling north into the unexplored interior on a quest for the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Quatermain has a mysterious map purporting to lead to the mines, but had never taken it seriously. However, heHe agrees to lead an expedition in return for a share of the treasure, or a stipend for his son if he is killed along the way. He has little hope they will return alive, but reasons that he has already outlived most people in his profession, so dying in this manner at least ensures that his son will be provided for. They also take along a mysterious native, Umbopa, who seems more regal, handsome and well-spoken than most porters of his class, but who is very anxious to join the party.

Travelling by oxcart, they reach the edge of a desert, but not before a hunt in which a wounded elephant claims the life of a servant. They continue on foot across the desert, almost dying of thirst before finding the oasis shown halfway across on the map. Reaching a mountain range called Suliman Berg, they climb a peak (one of "[[Queen of Sheba|Sheba]]'s Breasts") and, enter a cave where theyand find the frozen corpse of José Silvestre (also,{{refn|Also spelt Silvestra),.|group=N}} the 16th-century Portuguese explorer who drew the map in his own blood. That night, a secondanother servant dies from the cold, soand they leave his body next to Silvestra's, to "give him a companion".

They cross the mountains into Kukuanaland, a raised valley, lush and green, known as Kukuanaland. The inhabitants have a well-organised army and society and speak an ancient dialect of [[IsiZulu]]. Kukuanaland's capital is Loo, the destination of a magnificent road from ancient times. The city is dominated by a central royal [[kraal]].

They soon meet aA party of Kukuana warriors who are about to kill them when Captain Good nervously fidgets with his false teeth, making the Kukuanas recoil in fear. Thereafter, to protect themselves, they style themselves "white men from the stars"—sorcerer-gods—and are required to give regular proof of their divinity, considerably straining both their nerves and their ingenuity.

They are brought before King Twala, whoa rulesruthless overand his people with ruthlessviolent violenceleader. He came to power years before whenby he murderedmurdering his brother, the previous king, and drovedriving his brother's wife and infant son, Ignosi, out into the desert to die. Twala's rule is unchallenged. An evilGagool, an impossibly ancient hag named Gagool, is his chief advisor. She roots out any potential opposition by ordering regular [[witch hunt]]s and murdering without trial all those identified as traitors. When she singles out Umbopa for this fate, it takes all of Quatermain's skill to save his life.

Gagool, it appears, has already sensed what Umbopa soon afterlater reveals: he is Ignosi, the rightful king of the Kukuanas. A rebellion breaks out, the Englishmen gaining support for Ignosi by taking advantage of their foreknowledge of a [[lunar eclipse]] to claim that they will black out the moon as proof of Ignosi's claim. ({{refn|In early editions, this was a solar eclipse; Haggard changed it after realising that his description of a solar eclipse was not realistic.<ref name="owc" />).|group=N}} The Englishmen join Ignosi's army in a furious battle. Although outnumbered, the rebels overthrow Twala, and Sir Henry lops off his head in a duel.

The Englishmen also capture Gagool, who reluctantly leads them to King Solomon's Mines. She shows them a treasure room inside a mountain, carved deep within the [[rock-cut architecture|living rock]] and full of gold, diamonds, and ivory. She then treacherously sneaks out while they are admiring the hoard and triggers a secret mechanism that closes the mine's vast stone door. However, a brief scuffle with Foulata— a beautiful Kukuana woman named Foulata—who hadwho becomebecame attached to Good after nursing him through his injuries sustained in the battle—causes Gagool to be crushed under the stone door, though not before fatally stabbing Foulata. Their scant store of food and water rapidly dwindling, the trapped men prepare to die also. After a fewsome despairing days sealed in the dark chamber, they find an escape route, bringing with them a few pocketfuls of diamonds from the immense trove, enough to make them rich.

The Englishmen bid farewell to a sorrowful Ignosi and return to the desert, assuring him that they value his friendship but must return to be with their own people, Ignosi in return promising them that they will be venerated and honoured among his people forever. Taking a different route, they find Sir Henry's brother stranded in an oasis by a broken leg, unable to go forward or back. They all return to Durban and, eventually, back to England, wealthy enough to live comfortableout their lives in comfort.

The novel has been adapted to film [[King Solomon's Mines (film)|at least seven times]]. The first cinema adaptation (a [[silent film]] version) was directed by [[Horace Lisle Lucoque]] in 1919 (now [[Lost film|lost]]),<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2261737/ | title=King Solomon&apos;'s Mines | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref> followed by the first sound version in 1937, ''[[King Solomon's Mines (1937 film)|King Solomon's Mines]]'', which was directed by [[Robert Stevenson (director)|Robert Stevenson]]. The best known version premiered in 1950, ''[[King Solomon's Mines (1950 film)|King Solomon's Mines]]'', directed by [[Compton Bennett]] and [[Andrew Marton]], which was followed by a sequel, ''[[Watusi (film)|Watusi]]'' (1959). In 1979, a low-budget version was directed by [[Alvin Rakoff]], ''[[King Solomon's Treasure]]'', combining both ''King Solomon's Mines'' as well as ''[[Allan Quatermain (novel)|Allan Quatermain]]'' in one story. The 1985 film, ''[[King Solomon's Mines (1985 film)|King Solomon's Mines]]'', was a more tongue-in-cheek parody of the story, followed by a sequel in the same vein: ''[[Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold]]'' (1987). Around the same period, an Australian animated TV film came out, ''[[King Solomon's Mines (1986 telemoviefilm)|King Solomon's Mines]]''. In December 2006, the movie, ''[[The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines]]'' was released as the second in a trilogy that follows one man’s fantastical adventures. In 2008, a direct-to-video adaptation, ''[[Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls]]'' was released by [[Mark Atkins (director)|Mark Atkins]], which bore more resemblance to [[Indiana Jones]] than the novel.

In 1958, an episode of the [[BBC|BBC's]] ''Buried Treasure'' named "King Solomon's Mines" aired. Hosted by [[Mortimer Wheeler|Sir Mortimer Wheeler]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Buried Treasure - King Solomon's Mines |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p017tlpm/buried-treasure-king-solomons-mines |language=en-GB |access-date=2023-01-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Programme Index |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/8e131eeedf704b53ab7f708dff2e9905 |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk|date=29 October 1958 }}</ref>