H.P. Lovecraft, REH and the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

A possible inspiration for the Conan story: Shadows in Zamboula

OK, so I know this is a long stretch, and that the mind has a habit of drawing seeming analogies in unrelated things, but I wanted to share a thought I had in my trail of discovery.

As stated in my previous posts, I’m a huge REH and Conan fan and have read all of REH’s works. I’m also working my way through The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon.

I can’t help but notice parallels in certain stories I come across and see them as possible inspirations for some of REH’s works. Again, as stated above, perhaps this is just my fancy—but when you read heavily and widely, you start to see the trends.

One of my favorite works by REH is the story Shadows in Zamboula. It’s set in a city of mixed Stygian, Hyrkanian, and Black citizens, in the middle of the desert in the mid-southeastern area of REH’s Hyborian world. Yes, the city is named Zamboula.

Howard gives a brief history of the city, stating that it has been owned alternately by the Stygians, then Hyrkanians, and others, etc., so that its local citizens have become a motley, mixed crowd.

The story revolves around a female ruler named Zanobia, the mistress of the satrap—strong-minded, devious, and courageous—who suckers Conan into helping her resolve a situation she created with an evil priest. Another strong theme in the story involves cannibal slaves from one of the Black nations to the south, called Darfar, near Stygia (which is close to real-world Egypt). These slaves wield only clubs and are so voracious that even the city’s armed guards fear them. And I quote the related passage from the story:

“Once they heard the clank of brass-shod feet, and drew into the shadows of a gloomy arch while a squad of Pelishti watchmen swung past. There were fifteen of them; they marched in close formation, pikes at the ready, and the rearmost men had their broad, brass shields slung on their backs, to protect them from a knife stroke from behind. The skulking menace of the black maneaters was a threat even to armed men.” – REH, Shadows in Zamboula

It’s a great story, and I’ve read it several times.

Now, moving forward—here I am, working my way through Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and I come across a section where Gibbon describes a large band of monks living in the hills and caves around the city of Alexandria—Egypt. These monks have become wild savages of religious fervor and have started laying waste to villages, even driving off small, fully armed battalions of Roman legionaries—wielding nothing more than clubs and wearing only their monastic robes. At times, groups of (from memory—I had trouble finding this exact quote) up to 3,000 monks wielding clubs would swarm unwary legionaries.

Here are the direct quotes from Gibbon that I could find without fully backtracking through the work:

"The peace of the Eastern church was invaded by a swarm of fanatics [monks], incapable of fear, or reason, or humanity; and the Imperial troops acknowledged, without shame, that they were much less apprehensive of an encounter with the fiercest Barbarians."

“The patience of the Alexandrians was at length provoked. The measures of George [the bishop] were rash and violent, and his enemies numerous and determined. The monks of the desert, inflamed with fanatical fury, rushed to the city. Armed with nothing but clubs and stones, they confronted the guards of the præfect, and by the impetuosity of their attack, the Roman soldiers were compelled to retreat before the wild multitude of ascetics.”

“The monks of Egypt, who despised the world for the love of heaven, embraced with equal fervor the cause of Athanasius. From their solitary cells in the desert, a swarm of peasants rushed into Alexandria, armed only with clubs but inspired by the same rage that might have wielded swords. Their savage assault on the Arian bishop and the civil magistrates forced the imperial officers to retreat before the fury of men…”

The imagery in this factual account stood out in my mind as incredibly compelling—armies of monks in robes wielding clubs taking down Roman legionaries! This is material for a fantasy novel.

You can see where I’m going with this. We have a city described as similar to Alexandria—with its changing ownership and mixed-blood populace—located in roughly the same area in REH’s world as it would be in the real world. We have dark-skinned men from Egypt or nearby regions wielding clubs, to the point that even the armed soldiers fear them.

This made me wonder—was REH’s story inspired by this account in Gibbon’s work? Other details I’ve come across have also made me think this, and I’ll try to recall, track down, and correlate more examples like this one. But it raised the question: did REH study The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire?

Well, I just started looking into this, and I found out that Howard read voraciously. There are documented letters between him and H.P. Lovecraft showing the topics they read and discussed. I found an article noting how his essays reveal that he was well-read in classical and medieval history, including works about Rome, the Celts, Norse sagas, and more. Also, H.P. Lovecraft directly referenced Gibbon in his letters to REH. Howard admired Lovecraft and often talked history with him, so it's very likely he encountered Gibbon—either directly or secondhand through H.P. Lovecraft.

Here’s the article in more detail if you're interested.

REVIEW: A Means to Freedom, by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard

Well, it’s a stretch, but the evidence is stacking up—and I’ll keep bringing it to you.

Oh, and one more piece of evidence to support my theory: there was a very famous, amazing, and courageous queen of the Eastern Roman Empire whom Gibbon covers. I was inspired by her story and how much she was able to accomplish as a woman in that time. She eventually became an empress herself and held off major Roman forces for quite a while. I’ll detail her story more in its own post, but—coming to the point—guess what her name was? That’s right: Zanobia.

Anyway, I hope this is as intriguing for you guys as it is for me.

Peace!