The cities of Sumeria were eventually assimilated into
larger empires, most notably the infamous Babylon. They rose and fell in what is now the modern—if it can be
called that—state of Iraq.
Pyrrhas will remind readers of other Howard characters such
as Conan or Kull, famous for their brute strength and skill at fighting in
close quarters with swords or their bare hands. But Pyrrhas also exhibits the brooding fatalism of Solomon
Kane. Like Kane, “there had always
been a restlessness in the soul of Pyrrhas the Argive, to haunt his dreams and
drive him out on his long wanderings.”
He is a sort of pre-Christian warrior theologian, taking time to ponder the
nature and fate of humankind both before and after skewering his numerous
opponents.
In The House of Arabu,
Howard richly imagines the ancient, decadent city of Nippur, populated by “a
devil-ridden people crawling beneath the heels of priest and king…a city rotten
with intrigue and obscene mysteries…”
Sensitive readers should take care: the setting of Howard’s story is millennia before the development of
civil rights, feminism or diversity training. (The story itself was written several decades before any of
these developments.)
All of the women in The
House of Arabu are untrustworthy harlots, (except for one, who is a vicious
were-woman). A wealthy and
powerful homosexual lisps constantly and plots subversion. There is also a treacherous
Semite. Yet despite these
exaggerations, the historical details seem fairly convincing for fantasy
fiction; Howard definitely did his homework. As was his prerogative, the author took creative liberty
with some place names and historical details.
‘Arabu’, for example, is the ancient Akkadian term for ‘arab’. Akkadian was the language of an empire
of the same name that eventually unified the Sumerian city-states around 2300
BC. In the story, the ‘house of
Arabu’ is in the underworld of Shuala, the dark cavernous world of the dead. Yet Arabu sounds like the ancient
Greek name for the same place, Erebus.
The story begins with Pyrrhas attending a lavish feast and
orgy put on by his friend Naram-ninub.
One of the harlots entertaining the guests suddenly becomes possessed by
an evil spirit, grabs a dagger, and lunges at Pyrrhas. He is subsequently troubled by the
vision of a serpent and a visitation by Lilitu, an avenging “night
spirit”. Pyrrhas believes he has
been cursed, most likely by someone in the ‘House of Arabu’, that is by someone
who is dead—he is a victim of “justice from beyond the grave”. It may have something to do with his
recent killing of a priest of Anu in the rival city of Erech.
The rest of the story describes the barbarian’s adventures
as he seeks the origin of the curse.
He tangles with a vampiric old wizard, a deceitful concubine, a
treacherous associate, Lilitu and her mate, and a ferocious denizen of the
underworld. This being a
Howard story, not many of the original characters are left standing by the end
of it all.
Yet sprinkled here and there among the impalements and
decapitations are interesting philosophical and sociological comments. A foreigner in Nippur, Pyrrhas is
offended by the excessive idolatry, oppression of the common man, (though not
of the common woman), and extremes of wealth and poverty. Passing by an enormous temple built to
honor the god Enlil, Pyrrhas comments:
“The towers stand against the sky like
part of it…The sky is enameled, and this is a world made by man.”
“Nay, friend,” demurred Naram-ninub. “Ea built the world from the body of
Tiamat.”
“I say men built Shumir!” exclaimed
Pyrrhas…”A flat land—a very banquet-board of a land—with rivers and cities
painted upon it, and a sky of blue enamel over it. By Ymir, I was born in a land the gods built!”
Passing a funeral procession, Pyrrhas asks his friend “How
many gods are there, in the devil’s name?” As his friend describes the architecture of a temple—how
each feature represents one of seven different deities—the barbarian asks which
one is the greatest. His friend
answers him with a question:
“Which is the greatest leg of a tripod?” That is, all of them have equal power and stature. Pyrrhas is dissatisfied with this
answer. Perhaps he is feeling the
faint stirrings of an early monotheism.
The House of Arabu
is an entertaining adventure story.
The preoccupation with decadence and rich, exotic visual detail suggests
the influence of Clark Ashton Smith.
(Compare this story to Smith’s The
Monster of the Prophecy, for example.) The
House of Arabu was originally published posthumously in 1952; it appeared
in Donald Wollheim’s wonderful anthology series, the Avon Fantasy Reader.
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