Didja Notice?

 

As Omphale is attempting to steer the plane away from the cliffs on page 1, Indy asks her if she has any control and she tells him, "Control like after too much ouzo!" Ouzo is an anise-flavored aperitif popularly served in Greece.

 

In Istanbul, Daan tells Indy the sigil he saw on the stolen blade and on the arm of one the assailants who stole it is associated with the cult of Hecate and the Golden Fleece (see "The Golden Fleece" Part 1). The traditional cult of Hecate existed from about 700 BC to 300 AD. The more modern cult seen in this story appears to be fictitious, as is the sigil associated with it.

 

Indy says to Daan, "Look, Daan, you've been studying the fleece as long as I've known you. What's a myth got to do with this business?" and Daan throws it back in his face with, "Was the Ark of the Covenant a myth? Or the Holy Grail..?" These two references are, of course, to Indy's discovery of a couple alleged "mythical" objects in Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade.

 

On page 3, Omphale asks Daan if he is an archaeopteryx like Indy and Indy has to correct her that the term is "archeologist". Archaeopteryx is a genus of bird-like dinosaurs with feathers.

 

Daan's interpretation of the mystical properties of the Golden Fleece seems exaggerated. The ancient Greek myths hint that it may have a protective aura and possibly healing or fertility associations. Daan believes possession of the fleece ensures victory to any empire holding it.

 

On page 4, Daan tells the story of the fleece's possession by a succession of different empires and then coming into the hands of Sulayman's drunkard successor Selim the Sot, who committed infanticide by smothering his youngest child, a baby whose crying annoyed him, with the fleece, thus desecrating the divine object and eradicating its power. Sulayman (more commonly "Sulieman") was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520-1566. His successor was his son Selim II (sometimes known as Selim the Drunkard or Sot), though he is not known to have smothered a child.

 

Daan remarks he thinks the discarded fleece is now probably in some dusty storeroom in Topkapi Palace. Topkapi Palace is the former residence of the Ottoman Sultans, now a museum.

 

On page 6, Daan refers to the Emniyet as the secret police of Turkey. In reality, the Emniyet (Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü or General Directorate of Security) is a national civil police of Turkey responsible for law enforcement in the cities and their urban areas.

 

Indy and Daan look up the antiquarian trader Mahmed Sarper in among the merchant houses in the Beyoğlu district. This is an actual district in the European side of Istanbul.

 

The map of Indy and Omphale's trail from Istanbul to Colchis also shows the cities of Bucharest, Varna, and Stavropol in other countries near the Black Sea. Also seen are the Kuzey Anadolu Daglari and Agovakoya More. The Kuzey Anadolu Daglari are the North Anatolian Mountains and Agovakoya More is the Sea of Azov. Indy and Omphale's journey by mule from Istanbul to Colchis would be about 800 miles! It's not stated here how long it takes them to arrive.

 

On page 17, Omphale remarks that it's still spring, even though she and Indy have been caught in a freak snowstorm in the Caucasus Mountains.

 

Indy helps Omphale deliver her baby.

 

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