54 – Tarzan and the Lost Empire

Published in 1912, Tarzan of the Apes was the first of 24 adventure books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs featuring the son of a British lord and lady raised by Great Apes in Africa. The protagonist’s English name is John Clayton, his title Lord Greystoke – but he’s better known by is ape-name Tarzan (‘Whiteskin’). Tarzan meets and falls in love with the American Jane, whom he leaves the jungle for. They marry, live in England, raise a son Jack (ape-name: Korak) and eventually return to Africa to escape the hypocrisy of civilisation.In Burroughs’ 12^th Tarzan book, Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928), the ape-man comes across a lost Roman province located in a secluded canyon on the African coast. This map is taken from the back of that book. It shows the canyon, and describes some features of the province in elementary Latin:

• Castra sanguinarius (‘blood castle’)

• Via mare (‘sea road’)

• Castrum mare (‘sea castle’)

• Mare orientis (‘east sea’)

 Most info in this article is from this entry in Wikipedia. This illustration was taken from this Tarzan fansite. Some interesting Tarzan trivia:

• The biologist Jane Goodall cited Tarzan as a major influence on her childhood and subsequent career choice. She felt she would have been a much better wife for Tarzan than Jane, and fulfilled her lifelong dream when she was able to live among the gorillas, just like Tarzan did.

• In the 1950s and 1960s, there existed a thriving industry of bootleg Tarzan adventures in Israel, in which the would sometimes take Israel’s side in the fight against the Arabs, especially Nasser’s Egypt. A parallel batch of pirated Tarzan stories in 1950s Lebanon and Syria showed Tarzan taking the Arab side against the fiendish Israelis.

• In all, the Internet Movie Database lists 88 Tarzan movies between 1918 and 1999. The most famous Tarzan actor must be Johnny Weissmuller, who played the role from 1932 to 1948.

• The Californian town of Tarzana was named after the character, in honour of one-time resident E.R. Burroughs.

• The March 1959 issue of Man’s Adventure featured a story titled The Man Who Really Was… Tarzan, which claimed that Tarzan’s character was based on the real-life William Charles Mildin, 14^th Earl of Streatham. This Earl was supposed to have lived among the apres from age 11 to 26, returning to England in 1883. The article is generally thought to be a hoax.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• 8 Audio Books by Edgar Rice Burroughs