Tarzan Is Introduced to Opar
In The Return Of Tarzan, the ape-man is introduced to Opar by the Waziri tribe. Both the Waziri and the Lost City of Opar are the two pillars that support Tarzan’s life as a "civilized" African landowner. One provides the man power and loyalty to run his estate, while the other provides the gold to pay for it.
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| Neal Adams |
The Waziri are a tribe of elite warriors who first appear in The Return Of Tarzan. Unlike the "wild" tribes the ape-man encountered as a teen, he viewed the Waziri as a noble, cultured people of immense courage.
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| Tarzan's Africa |
Going by the name of John Caldwell the ape-man was working as a spy for the French government. The Lord of the jungle saved a Waziri warrior named Busuli from a lion. In return, the warrior's tribe excepted him as one of their own.. After their old chief died, Tarzan was named the Chief of the Waziri.
- They more-or-less became Tarzan’s private army.
- They also helped him build his bungalow, tended his crops and cattle, and protected Lady Jane.
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| Zedenek Burian |
The Lost City of Opar: The Source of Tarzan's Wealth
After it's discovery Opar became the British Lord's personal bank. It is an ancient, crumbling colony of Atlantis hidden deep in the jungle near the Portuguese Angola - Belgium Congo border. The lost city was filled with forgotten vaults of piles of gold ingots.
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| Tarzan Visits Opar |
Upon request of their new Chief the Waziri acted as his guides to the ancient city, and to the treasure vaults that had been forgotten by the Oparians themselves.
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| Tarzan Visits Opar |
He found the city largely in ruins, with only a small portion still inhabited by the descendants of the original Atlanteans.
The People of Opar were very unique. They lived in "sexual dimorphism." The women are exceptionally beautiful and human-looking. The men, however, have devolved over thousands of years into hairy, ape-like creatures.
The Oparians spoke the "Sun Language" of Atlantis, a highly sophisticated and ancient tongue. However, they also spoke the language of the Mangani. This allowed the ape-man to communicate with High Priestess La, bridging the gap between his wild upbringing and their ancient civilization.
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| Neal Adams |
The High Priestess La is the ruler of Opar, and is priestess of the "Flaming God." The beautiful woman falls madly in love with the ape-man and tried more than once to make him her husband, or sacrifice him on the blood stained altar when he refuses.
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| John Buscema |
Upon his first visit the jungle king learned Opar was founded over 10,000 years ago as a frontier colony and mining outpost of the long lost empire of Atlantis.
Opar was built deep in the African jungle to mine the vast gold deposits found in the local mountains. During this time, the mining city was a thriving metropolis with domes, minarets, and massive walls. It served as a "vacation home" for the Atlantean elite and a vital hub for the empire's wealth.
When Atlantis sank into the sea, Opar was cut off from the rest of the world. The colonists sent out a mission to find their homeland, but they returned with news that it had completely vanished. Left to fend for themselves, the Oparians withdrew behind their walls and entered a millennia-long period of isolation.
Because Opar was isolated, the population began to change due to extreme inbreeding and a unique social practice.
- Over generations, the males devolved into short, hairy, muscular, and "ape-like" creatures. They lost most of their human intelligence, becoming brutal and beastly protectors of the city.
- The women remained exceptionally beautiful and human. This was due to a strict cultural practice of selective culling.
- Children that appeared too "beastly" were killed if they were female, while "handsome" boys were rarely born or survived. This created a stark "Beauty and the Beast" society.
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| Karl Comendador |
The Oparians worshipped the "Flaming God" (the Sun). Their main religious site was a massive, blood-stained sacrificial altar atop a pyramid. Religion was the core of their law. They practiced human sacrifice, usually involving captured "strangers" and cutting out their hearts with a sacred sacrificial knife.
- The city's ruler was always a woman, titled High Priestess. She was seen as the living representative of the Flaming God.
- It was a theocracy run by women but guarded by "ape-men." Their only remaining industry was guarding the massive vaults of gold ingots that had been forgotten by the men but were still used by the Priestesses for ritual purposes.
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| Bill Waters |
Unlike a city destroyed in a single war, Opar's end was a slow fade into irrelevance and physical ruin.
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| Tarzan ,& Jane |
For many years the British Lord repeatedly raided the city's gold vaults to rebuild his own fortune.
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| Zedenek Burian |
In Tarzan And The Golden Lion, a rebellion occurred where La was briefly overthrown by a rival priest. Though the ape-man helped La regain her throne, the population was clearly dwindling.
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| Joe Jusko |
By the end of the Tarzan series, Opar remained a crumbling shell. While the city wasn't literally wiped off the map, it ceased to be a power. Its population was too small and genetically compromised to ever rebuild. In the later Tarzan And The Tarzan Twins, groups of Oparian exiles were found wandering the jungle, possibility suggesting the city had finally become too decayed to sustain its remaining inhabitants.
Although not written by ERB there is a prequel Opar series.
Author Philip José Farmer of Tarzan Alive fame later wrote three Opar stories covering the city at its height, 12,000 years ago, as part of a vast civilization around an inland African sea!
Known to Farmer fans as the Khokarsa series, the books are set in the prehistoric African civilization that eventually became the lost city of Opar in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels.
The original series by Farmer consists of three primary novels:
The Khokarsa Trilogy
Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974)
- The story follows Hadon, a young warrior who travels to the heart of the Khokarsan empire to compete in the Great Games for the chance to become king.
- Picking up after the events of the first book, Hadon is forced to flee across the empire during a violent civil war between the priestesses of Kho and the priests of Resu.
- This was the "lost" third book. Farmer wrote a lengthy outline and a partial manuscript, but it was completed by Christopher Paul Carey after Farmer's death. It focuses on Hadon's giant, axe-wielding cousin, Kwasin.
Time's Last Gift (1972):
While not strictly an "Opar" book, this novel is considered a prequel. It involves time travelers who journey back to 12,000, the same era as Hadon. One character,implied to be Tarzan, becomes the legendary Sahhindar, a figure worshipped in the Opar books.
While the original books were written by Philip José Farmer, now deceased, author Christopher Paul Carey has expanded the "Khokarsa" universe with Farmer's blessing and using his original notes. Carey continued the saga directly where the original trilogy left off:
- Hadon, King of Opar
- Blood of Ancient Opar
Here is the chronological reading order to best experience the full saga of Ancient Opar.
These books set the stage for the civilization, featuring the "gray-eyed god" Sahhindar a time-traveling figure implied by Farmer to be Tarzan.
Time’s Last Gift by Philip José Farmer
- The bridge between the modern world and 12,000 BC.
Exiles of Kho by Christopher Paul Carey
- An origin story for the civilization set centuries before Hadon.
Hadon of Ancient Opar by Philip José Farmer
Flight to Opar by Philip José Farmer
The Song of Kwasin by Philip José Farmer & Christopher Paul Carey
Hadon, King of Opar by Christopher Paul Carey
Blood of Ancient Opar by Christopher Paul Carey
About The Author
James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines over forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.
James Michaelu Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published July 15, 2024.
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