Quotes from
The Coming of Conan (Del Rey)...
“Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming
cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when
shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars – Nemedia,
Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spiderhaunted
mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem,
Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold.
But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia... (p.18)
Mitra of the Hyborians must be a strong god, because his people have builded their cities over the world. (p.131)
The Kothians had long since abandoned the worship of Mitra, forgetting the attributes of the universal Hyborian god. (p.152)
When I served with the mercenaries of Corinthia we swilled and wenched all night and fought all day
– aye, blood ran down the channels of our swords. (p.155)
Close on their heels marched the Khoraja spearmen, always comparatively few in
any
Hyborian state, where men thought cavalry the only honorable branch of service. (p.162)
They were men of many races and many crimes. There were tall Hyperboreans, gaunt, bigboned,
of slow speech and violent natures; tawny-haired Gundermen from the hills of the
northwest; swaggering Corinthian renegades; swarthy Zingarians, with bristling black
mustaches and fiery tempers; Aquilonians from the distant west. But all, except the Zingarians, were Hyborians. (p.162)
There were some seventy of them, a wild
horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians, Zamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians,
Shemites. Their features reflected the wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash
or the branding-iron. (p.196)
The rat-faced one [Aratus] yelped in triumph and ran to stab the prostrate man, but a lean Corinthian
thrust him back.
“What, Aratus, would you break the law of the Brotherhood, you dog?”
“No law is broken,” snarled the Brythunian.
“No law? Why, you dog, this man you have just struck down is by just rights our captain!”
“Nay!” shouted Aratus. “He was not of our band, but an outsider. He had not been admitted to
fellowship. Slaying Sergius does not make him captain, as would have been the case had one of
us killed him.”
“But he wished to join us,” retorted the Corinthian. “He said so.”
At that a great clamor arose, some siding with Aratus, some with the Corinthian, whom they
called Ivanos. Oaths flew thick, challenges were passed, hands fumbled at sword-hilts.
At last a Shemite spoke up above the clamor: “Why do you argue over a dead man?”
“He’s not dead,” answered the Corinthian, rising from beside the prostrate Cimmerian. “It was
a glancing blow; he’s only stunned.”
At that the clamor rose anew, Aratus trying to get at the senseless man and Ivanos finally
bestriding him, sword in hand, and defying all and sundry. Olivia sensed that it was not so
much in defense of Conan that the Corinthian took his stand, but in opposition to Aratus.
Evidently these men had been Sergius’ lieutenants, and there was no love lost between them. (p.197-198)
Conan’s gaze sought out the blood-stained figure of the Corinthian.
“How, Ivanos!” he challenged. “You took my part, once. Will you uphold my claims again?”
“Aye, by Mitra!” The pirate, sensing the trend of feeling, was eager to ingratiate himself with
the Cimmerian. (p.206)
His [Yezdigerd's] riders bore torch and sword westward into Brythunia and Ophir and Corinthia, even to the borders of
Nemedia. (p.299)
Five hundred years later the kingdoms of the world are clearly defined. The kingdoms of the
Hyborians – Aquilonia, Nemedia, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Koth, Ophir, Argos, Corinthia, and
one known as the Border Kingdom – dominate the western world. (p.354)
[Near the end of the Hyborian Age] Koth itself, with Corinthia and the eastern Shemitish tribes, was forced to pay Aquilonia tribute and lend aid in wars. (p.356)
Reinforced by adventurers from east of Vilayet, the riders of Turan swept over Zamora, devastated eastern Corinthia, and were met on the plains of Brythunia by the Aquilonians who defeated them and hurled them flying eastward. (p.356-357)
Zingara seized this opportunity to throw off the yoke, which example was followed by Corinthia and the Shemites. (p.361)
They [Hyrkanians] swept over and subjugated Brythunia, and devastated southern Hyperborea, and Corinthia. (p.362)
Opposed to this barbaric empire [of the Picts] is the empire of the Hyrkanians, of which the northern boundaries are the ravaged lines of Hyperborea, and the southern, the deserts south of the lands of Shem. Zamora, Brythunia, the Border Kingdom, Corinthia, most of Koth, and all the eastern lands of Shem are included in this empire. (p.362)
There were no cities anywhere, except in Stygia and the lands of Shem; the invading tides of Picts, Hyrkanians,
Cimmerians and Nordics had levelled them in ruins, and the once dominant Hyborians had vanished from the earth, leaving scarcely a trace of their blood in the veins of their conquerors. (p.367)
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Well, that's probably everything pertinent from
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. It's possible I missed a couple of quotes. I didn't post every last scrap of info on Ivanos the Corinthian, just what I thought gave a good idea about his character and appearance. While it's very likely that the unnamed setting of
Rogues in the House is in Corinthia or "the same as", that is somewhat debatable. The same goes for the "Yaralet Fragment". What I
have included are blanket statements REH made about Hyborian culture in general. The Corinthians were solidly Hyborian. Howard
never made any statement to the contrary.
I included the "Nemedian Chronicles" epigram to demonstrate that REH didn't feel it necessary to list Corinthia amongst the "shining kingdoms". Wouldn't a place full of philosophers, pseudo-Athenians and pseudo-Spartans (which is how Corinthia has been portrayed in pastiches) be considered a "shining kingdom"? Something to think about.
I was under the impression that there was some link between Amalric, a Nemedian (and his company of mercs), and Corinthia, but I couldn't find it. It would appear Conan served with a company of Corinthian mercs before he met Amalric.
