Origins of the Shemites

[yezdigerd]

I wonder if any of the more scholarly posters here would mind giving an opinion on my thoughts that the Shemites may be another of the offshoots of the ancient Zhemri. Have I simply been bamboozled by the similarity in the names?

[deuce]

Howard states in "The Hyborian Age" that the Shemites and Zamorans are both directly descended from the Zhemri. The Zamoran god of thieves, Bel, was said in QotBC to have been born in the Shemitish city of Shumir. It seems very likely that REH, who was far more linguistically sophisticated than some give him credit for, expressly designed the name "Zhemri" to allow for "Shem" and "Zamora" to both be (supposed) derivatives.

[yezdigerd]

Thanks Deuce. I was truly struggling with the Hyborian Age essay yesterday due to an ear infection. Antibiotics have knocked me for six and I just couldn’t piece the bits of the puzzle together. That is precisely the answer I was looking for.

[fernando]

Hey, Deuce!

Indeed, QotBC shows Bel as a deity both Zamoran and Shemitish in Conan's Age - and having his first worshippers among Shemites. But I couldn't find, at www.gutenberg.org/files/42182/42182-h/42182-h.htm, any REH's state of Shemites and Zamorans having a common ancestry - except for the similarity of "Zamora" and "Shem" with "Zhemri"...

[deuce]

Sometimes I forget that I first read "The Hyborian Age" when I was 10 and I've since read it through 100+ times. That tends to blur things when it comes to implications and triangulation of facts. Here are the relevant excerpts from THA:


"Of the civilized races of the Thurian Continent, a remnant of one of the non-Valusian nations dwells among the low mountains of the southeast—the Zhemri."

The usual guess is that the nation in question is Zarfhaana, though I suppose a case could be made for Thurania or some unknown "nation".

"Across the history of the world tribes and drifts of tribes move and shift in an everchanging panorama."

"To the southeast [of Hyperborea] the descendants of the Zhemri, given impetus by new blood resulting from admixture with some unclassified tribe, are beginning to seek to revive some faint shadow of their ancient culture."

Now, it's possible the "unclassified tribe" is actually a tribe of Shemites, but REH has no problem speculating on Shemite affinities in Zingara below, so who knows?

"Far to the south [of Cimmeria] dreams the ancient mysterious kingdom of Stygia. On its eastern borders wander clans of nomadic savages, already known as the Sons of Shem.
" [Followed immediately by this:]
"Next to the Picts, in the broad valley of Zingg, protected by great mountains, a nameless band of primitives, tentatively classified as akin to the Shemites, has evolved an advanced agricultural system and existence."

Here we have Shemites and "possible Shemites" extending all the way from the lands east of the Styx to (possibly) the Zingg valley. There are also other possible former sites of proto-Shemite occupation strung out across Koth and southern Aquilonia like Shamla Pass, Khorshemish and Shamar.

"To the south the Hyborians have founded the kingdom of Koth, on the borders of those pastoral countries known as the Lands of Shem, and the savages of those lands, partly through contact with the Hyborians, partly through contact with the Stygians who have ravaged them for centuries, are emerging from barbarism."

As noted above, there may have been Shemites of some kind in Koth itself when the Hyborian founders of Koth arrived. The Shemites were certainly on the southern (and eastern?) borders of Koth at that very early date, which puts them practically next door to the Zamorans also at a very early date.

"Southeast of Hyperborea a kingdom of the Zhemri has come into being, under the name of Zamora."

"A" kingdom? What other "Zhemri" kingdoms might there be? It might just be ambiguous phrasing. Perhaps REH simply meant: "The Zhemri have united into a kingdom under the name of Zamora."

"Zamora lies to the east, and Zingara to the southwest of these kingdoms—peoples alike in darkness of complection and exotic habits, but otherwise unrelated."

This definitely makes one wonder if there is any connection at all between the Zamorans and the Shemites. One explanation could be that the "tentatively classified" tribe that settled the Zinng was not akin to the Shemites. Or, that the Shemite strain--being maybe a third of the total genetic heritage in "modern" Zingarans and the split being separated so far in time from the Zamorans--doesn't really count as "related". Or, the Zingarans do have Shemite blood and that blood isn't related to the Zamorans.

"The non-Hyrkanian dwellers of these territories [between the Vilayet and the eastern borders of Koth and Zamora] are scattered and pastoral, unclassified in the north, Shemitish in the south, aboriginal, with a thin strain of Hyborian blood from wandering conquerors."

This is pretty unambiguous. "Aboriginal" means "there from the beginning." That puts ancient tribes of Shemites right next door to Zamora since time immemorial.

"There is a strong Shemitish, even a Stygian strain among the peoples of Koth, and to a lesser extent, of Argos..."

While the proximity of Shem to both Hyborian nations could have something to do with the admixture, Shemites actually being there when the Hyborians showed up and then forming part of the peasant class for the last 3000 years could have plenty to do with it as well. The lands where Koth and Argos were established were not uninhabited wastes before the Hyborians took over...

Well, having taken a fresh look at things, I'm not as rock solid in my convictions. There certainly isn't a "smoking gun" or "bloody sword" pointing to a direct common origin for the Zamorans and Shemites. That said, we have the extremely similar phenotypes, national characters and cultures--even gods--pointing to something more than just "cultural diffusion" due to close proximity. There is also the fact that Howard could've gone with something like "Zhamari" or "Zamri" rather than the (pretty awesome) in-between name of "Zhemri" for the ancestors of the Zamorans if the Zhemri weren't also ancestors of the Shemites.

I hope I've laid things out clearly. I have to say the jury's still out (and will probably always be)...but I know how I'm voting. 

[kemp]

An interesting topic, and I suppose everyone has a different opinion on the subject. Myself, admixtures aside, the way I have read it, I see the Zamorans and Shemites as two different people, with different origins, but each to their own interpretation. 

[fernando]

Feb 23, 2018 2:47:34 GMT -5 deuce said:

"To the southeast [of Hyperborea] the descendants of the Zhemri, given impetus by new blood resulting from admixture with some unclassified tribe, are beginning to seek to revive some faint shadow of their ancient culture."

Now, it's possible the "unclassified tribe" is actually a tribe of Shemites, but REH has no problem speculating on Shemite affinities in Zingara below, so who knows?

Very interesting indeed, kemp! BTW, the excerpt above can be a reference to Dagonians refugees, as mentioned by Dale E. Rippke in one of his essays - but, of course, I can be wrong.

[kemp]

May 3, 2018 15:17:07 GMT -5 fernando said:

Feb 23, 2018 2:47:34 GMT -5 deuce said:

"To the southeast [of Hyperborea] the descendants of the Zhemri, given impetus by new blood resulting from admixture with some unclassified tribe, are beginning to seek to revive some faint shadow of their ancient culture."

Now, it's possible the "unclassified tribe" is actually a tribe of Shemites, but REH has no problem speculating on Shemite affinities in Zingara below, so who knows?

Very interesting indeed, kemp! BTW, the excerpt above can be a reference to Dagonians refugees, as mentioned by Dale E. Rippke in one of his essays - but, of course, I can be wrong.

The 'unclassified tribe' that mixed in with the descendants of the Zhemri was never identified, but of course we can speculate, and I have never read anything that said that both the Shemites and Zamorans descended from the Zhemri.

A nameless band of primitives in the broad valley of Zingg, are described as akin to the Shemites. A tribe of the Picts invades and conquerors these people, and than later the already mixed people are conquered by a roving tribe of the Hybori. What emerges is Zingara. 

'Zamora lies in the east, and Zingara southwest of these kingdoms-people alike in darkness of complexion and exotic habits, but otherwise unrelated'.

Zamora was a fascinating and ancient civilisation, full of mystery, holding a precarious position in the Hyborian Age world surrounded by Hyborians, Shemites and Hyrkanians.

[kemp]

In REH's Hyborian Age essay note is made that during the early years of the formation of the Hyborian kingdoms the lands to the south of the Hyborians were known as the 'Lands of Shem'. Of course, that is the very name of one of Noah's sons from The Bible, who, according to the old testament was the ancestor of the Semitic peoples such as Arabs and Jews. 

I spend too much of my time focused on European and Steppe people and culture, but recent events have made me think I should refocus on the fascinating world of the near east, especially with the escalation of very ancient feuds starting up again which will have some impact on world politics. 

The Hyborian Age trading city of Zamboula is roughly situated on the area of land that corresponds to modern Israel with the Gaza and West Bank sections. From my recollection, 'Shadows of Zamboula'  it was inhabited by various ethnicities, including Kushites, Shemites, Stygians and Turanians, as well as other nomadic drifts. 

[kemp]

In REH's essay the ancient Shemites, and Shemites mixed with Nordic and Hyborian drifts eventually descended into Arabs and Jews.