MAPS OF THE HYBORIAN AGE

Sometime in March of 1932, Robert E. Howard drew a rough map of the world that Conan lived in. It was based primarily on a map of Europe. He produced others as his tales included more cities and additional locations.

My first exposure to a map of the Hyborian Age was through the Lancer paperbacks. Uncredited, it states on the contents page: "A map of the world of Conan in the Hyborian Age based upon notes and sketches by Robert E. Howard and upon previous maps by P. Schuyler Miller, John D. Clark, David Kyle, and L. Sprague de Camp, with a map of Europe and adjacent regions superimposed for reference."

In 1936, Miller and Clark sent Howard a letter that included a chronology of Conan's adventures based on their reading and research. Howard replied, praising their work as closely accurate to his imaginings.

In 1977, Starmont House produced a 22" x 42" poster of The Hyborian Age" by Thomas N. Falconer (aka Julian May) as an accompaniment to the book, A Gazeteer of the Hyborian World of Conan, Including Also the World of Kull and an Ethnogeographical Dictionary of the Principal Peoples of the Era, with Reference to The Starmont Map of the Hyborian World.

Click on this and the other maps for a more detailed image.

Howard added to his "historical record" by writing the essay, "The Hyborian Age", written sometime during the 1930's. Between the maps and his essay, they created a verisimilitude regarding Conan's history and the world in which he lived.

In his preface to "The Hyborian Age", he explained:

Nothing in this article is to be considered as an attempt to advance any theory in opposition to accepted history. It is simply a fictional background for a series of fiction-stories. When I began writing the Conan stories a few years ago, I prepared this 'history' of his age and the peoples of that age, in order to lend him and his sagas a greater aspect of realness. And I found that by adhering to the 'facts' and spirit of that history, in writing the stories, it was easier to visualize (and therefore to present) him as a real flesh-and-blood character rather than a ready-made product. In writing about him and his adventures in the various kingdoms of his Age, I have never violated the 'facts' or spirit of the 'history' here set down, but have followed the lines of that history as closely as the writer of actual historical-fiction follows the lines of actual history. I have used this 'history' as a guide in all the stories in this series that I have written.

NOTE: I came late to the party for this year's Cimmerian September, hence the small number of posts during the celebration. I plan to correct that next year. Who knows? Maybe it will be a whole month of Conan and sword & sorcery!

Read Robert E. Howard's essay, "The Hyborian Age" HERE.