Didja Notice?

 

The book opens with a quote by Thucydides, "The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it." Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC) was an Athenian general and historian.

 

Prologue

 

No notes.

 

Chapter 1: College Capers

 

The author sets this chapter, featuring Indy's graduation from the University of Chicago, in 1920, but in light of what was later established of Indy's college career in episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, we must consider this chapter and graduation taking place in 1922.

 

Page 7 mentions the incident in his youth when Indy received the distinctive scar on his chin. This incident (Indy's first attempt at using a bullwhip, against a circus lion) was seen in "The Cross of Coronado".

 

Page 7 also states that, although able-bodied and coordinated, Indy preferred horseback riding and skiing to sports like football or baseball. But, in the episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Indy is said to be a baseball fan, notably in "My First Adventure", "Journey of Radiance", "Swore and Peace", and "Race to Danger" (in which episode he is said to be on his high school's baseball team). Again though, this novel was written before the TV series was conceived.

 

Page 8 remarks on Indy and Jack spending time on Chicago's South Side listening to jazz musicians like Pine Top Smith, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Speckled Red, and Cow Cow Davenport, most of them having come up from New Orleans over the last five years. These were all actual jazz figures of the time. New Orleans is generally considered the birthplace of jazz.

 

Page 8 mentions Prohibition having started "a few months back." If it was 1920, this would be true, but since we've retroactively established this chapter as taking place in 1922 (see above), it's better to think of Prohibition starting "a couple years back". Prohibition refers to the ban on alcohol production, importation, transportation, and sale in the U.S. from 1920-1933.

 

    Page 8 states that Jack would play his cornet with the likes of Johnny Dunn and Jabbo Smith. Smith would have been only 14 in 1922 (and only 12 if we kept this chapter in 1920 as it was written!). Dunn and Smith were actual jazz figures of the time. Smith learned to play young and left home to become a professional musician at the of 16.

    Indy muses that Jack is one of the few whites he'd ever seen play jazz. No mention is made of the fact that Indy himself played jazz (soprano sax) with Sidney Bechet's band a time or two back in 1920 in "Mystery of Jazz" and "Mystery of the Blues". 

 

The president of the University of Chicago at the time of Indy's graduation is said to be Mallory Mulhouse. In reality, the president of the university from 1906–1923 was Harry Pratt Judson.

 

Page 10 states that Indy is graduating from Chicago with a major in linguistics, an attempt to get his father's attention. This despite the fact that he kept telling people he was studying archaeology in episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. This contrast was discussed in PopApostle's study of "Mystery of Jazz".

 

On page 10, Indy reminisces on the time he and Jack saw King Oliver play at the Royal Gardens. Indy was seen to frequent the location (as the Royal Garden) in "Mystery of Jazz". Indy also saw Oliver play at the Pekin Inn in "Mystery of Jazz" and tells Bechet he also saw the king in New Orleans when he was 12.

 

On page 11, Indy tells Jack he thinks he could become as good as Earl Hines or Johnny Dodd. These were both actual jazz figures of the time, though "Dodd" is actually "Dodds".

 

Also on page 11, Jack laments that jazz is blamed by some for the riots on the South Side. This refers to the Chicago race riot of 1919, wherein a black teen accidentally swam into the white area at a segregated public beach and was pelted with rocks until he drowned (though I'm not sure why Jack would say that some blamed jazz for it, other than jazz was considered "black music" at the time).

 

The "Allies' victory" mentioned on page 11 is a reference to the end of WWI in 1918.

 

Page 11 reveals that Indy plans to continue his linguistic studies in Paris.

 

On page 11, Jack knocks a code on the door of a speakeasy to be let in. The knock code of "BOP-bop-bop-bop-bop-BOP-BOP" is the cadence of the "Shave and a Haircut" riff, popular since at least 1899.

 

Chapter 2: Hanging Heroes

 

As part of a prank for the university's Founding Father's Day, Indy and Jack hang effigies of George Washington, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin in the quad of the campus. These men were all founding fathers of the United States in 1776.

 

Many witnesses to the prank display are offended by it, trying to guess who could have done it, guessing a Bolshevik, a Royalist, or a mad Englishman. The Bolsheviks were a radical Marxist faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, who had become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the October Revolution of 1917. Royalists, in this case, likely refers to supporters of the British Crown during the American Revolution.

 

The editor of the school newspaper supports the effigy display as freedom of speech. The school newspaper of the University of Chicago is The Chicago Maroon, founded in 1892.

 

Indy's Founding Fathers Day paper was titled "The Nature of American Patriots and Traitors".

 

Page 22 has Dean Williams stating that Henry Jones, Sr. is Indy's only living relative. But other relatives such as uncles, aunts, and cousins appeared or were mentioned in TV episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the Young Indy books, Curse of the Ruby Cross, The Mountain of Fire, and The Secret City.

 

Indy continues his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. The University of Paris is often known colloquially as simply "the Sorbonne" (for the building there that originally housed the College of Sorbonne from 1253-1882). There is now a separate, related university called Sorbonne University.

 

Chapter 3: Lady Ice

 

On page 26, Indy walks along the boulevard St. Michel in Paris. This is an actual major street in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

 

As he walks, Indy is looking forward to his Greek archaeology class in the morning, where they are scheduled to discuss Apollo's Oracle. This refers to the Oracle of Delphi at the Temple of Apollo in the religious precinct of Delphi in Ancient Greece.

 

Professor Belecamus' remark that the modern restoration of Delphi began in 1892 is correct.

 

Professor Belecamus tells the class that she spent five years as chief archaeologist at the Delphi ruins while associated with the University of Athens.

 

As stated on page 29, the Pythia of Delphi were a succession of women from poor farming families who were over age 50. Each served as the Oracle of Apollo for their time.

 

The mythology around Delphi and the Pythia spoken of by Belecamus and Indy on pages 29-32 is basically correct, though a few details have been modified by scholars in the time since this book was written.

 

Chapter 4: Dada and Jazz

 

Indy and Jack visit a boite in Montparnasse called the Jungle. Indy is relieved to see the arrogant, cynical Dada crowd was not yet ensconced in their usual chairs near the door. Boîte (literally, "box") is a French term for a small restaurant or night club. Montparnasse is a neighborhood in the south of Paris near the Latin Quarter. As far as I can tell, the Jungle was a fictitious club(it makes a brief reappearance in Dance of the Giants). Dada was an artistic expression movement in the early 20th century, railing against logic and reason and expressing ideas in nonsensical and illogical ways.

 

On page 37, Jack orders two Pernods for himself and Indy.

 

Jack wants to find a female singer for his Parisian jazz band. He muses to Indy that if they were still in Chicago, he could find someone at the (Royal) Gardens or Dreamland. The Dreamland Cafe was an actual jazz club in Chicago at the time.

 

Jack writes a song called "Down in the Quarter".

 

On page 40, Dadaists who've arrived at the Jungle begin to demand Tristan Tzara and Jean Arp. Tzara (1896-1963) and Arp (1886-1966) were each influential Dadaist artists.

 

On page 41, Jack tells the audience at the Jungle that his next tune is a song by Freddie Keppard he first heard in the Windy City. Keppard (1890-1933) was an American jazz cornetist. The "Windy City" is a nickname for Chicago, earned through its reputation as the windiest city in the U.S., much of the weather due to the city's location on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes.

 

On pages 41-42, the Dadaists make fun of Indy's "bomber" jacket, asking him if he's going on a bombing mission, whether he's got something against their German brothers, and then throwing a drink at him "for the Red Baron's mother". Little do they know, Indy met the Red Baron during his time as an aerial photographer for French intelligence during the war. The Red Baron was Baron Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918), generally considered the best fighter pilot of WWI.

 

On page 43, Indy walks past a movie theatre showing The Perils of Pauline. This was a silent film serial released in 1914. He also sees coming attraction posters for The Death Ray, The Poisoned Room, and The Blood Crystals. These are all titles of chapters of the similar silent serial, The Exploits of Elaine, also 1914.

 

Indy reflects on Madelaine's fondness for bal mussette. This is a style of French instrumental music and dance.

 

Page 43 mentions the Luxembourg and Montmartre districts of Paris. These are actual districts of the city.

 

On page 44, Madelaine wants to java dance with Indy. Java is a Parisian bal musette dance.

 

Chapter 5: Encounters

 

Indy meets Dr. Belecamus at the Le Dôme Café cafe rather than his usual Deux-Magots.

 

Indy has a very small apartment on the rue Bonaparte. The rue Bonaparte is an actual street in Paris.

 

Indy has just finished reading the new novel Ulysses by James Joyce and recalls the character of Molly Bloom of Dublin. Ulysses  was published in novel form in 1922.

 

On page 49, Professor Conrad remarks to Indy that he saw Booth Tarkington in a cafe the other day. Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and playwright. The Tarkington novel mentioned, Seventeen, was published in 1916.

 

On page 50, Indy and  Belecamus order oysters and pommes fritas from the waiter at Le Dôme. Pommes fritas is the French term for "french fries".

 

Chapter 6: On the Rails

 

On their trip to Greece, Indy and Belecamus travel by rail to Brindisi, Italy, then by boat to Piraeus, Greece, then overland to Athens.

 

On page 54, Farnsworth is reading an issue of Punch. Punch was a British weekly magazine of satire from 1841-2002.

 

Chapter 7: Intrigue in Athens

 

On page 62, Indy and Belecamus look up at the magnificent Doric columns of the Acropolis. Indy previously visited the site in "Travels With Father" and "Journey to the Underworld".

 

Also on page 62, Indy tells Belecamus how his father's idea of bedtime stories had been the feats of Zeus, Heracles, Poseidon, Hermes, Medusa, the Gorgons, and Jason and the Argonauts. These are all gods and other characters from Ancient Greek mythology.

 

Belecamus' description on pages 62-63 of things that happened to the Propylaia and Parthenon in the Acropolis historically is basically correct.

 

Belecamus tells Indy that her favorite place in Athens is the Tower of the Winds in the Roman Agora. The Tower is a clock tower used during the time of Ancient Greece that served as a timepiece and is also considered the world's first meteorological station. The description of the Tower on page 72 is accurate.

 

The Erectheum Indy and Belecamus walk to on page 63 is a structure within the Acropolis. The Caryatid statues described as part of the Erectheum are accurate.

 

Just as Belecamus remarks on page 64, Lord Byron died at Missolonghi. Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron), was a British poet and politician who lived from 1788-1824.

 

Belecamus' house is in Monastiraki. This is an old neighborhood of Athens.

 

Belecamus tells Indy her father is wealthy from a life as a shipbuilder and he owns a couple of small islands and also estates in Athens, Rome, and London, but he is in exile from Greece due to his speaking out against the recent Greek invasion of Turkey. This invasion was the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922.

 

Chapter 8: Journey to Delphi

 

On pages 71-72, Belecamus sneaks out of her bed, shared with Indy, at 5:30 in the morning and takes a bicycle past Platia Monastirakiou and the vendor square with its central church (Holy Church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa), then past Hadrian's Library and follows Eolou Street to the Gate of Athena Archegatis, the entrance to the Roman Forum, before arriving at the Tower of the Winds. This is an accurate set of directions that could be followed today.

 

On page 76, Belecamus remarks that the rough road she and Indy are driving on "hasn't changed much since the time of Oedipus." Oedipus was the tragic king of Thebes in Ancient Greek mythology, said to have been around the 13th or 14th century BCE.

 

On page 77, Belecamus and Indy's vehicle climbs Mount Parnassós. This is a mountain range in Greece and the location of Delphi.

 

Chapter 9: The Return

 

On page 80, some old men of the village are said to be fingering kombolói. These are Greek worry beads.

 

On page 82, the government worker tells Panos that the king is coming to the village. At this time (October 1922), the king of Greece was George II, who ruled from September 1922 to March 1924. The World of Indiana Jones role-playing game rule book lists the otherwise unnamed king as King Constantine, but, in the real world, Constantine had abdicated the throne in September 1922 and was exiled to Italy. The unnamed Grecian king appears again in Dance of the Giants.

 

Chapter 10: Ichor Rising

 

On page 85, Indy reads the text he's just translated from a stone tablet, the writing of Plutarch, a priest at Delphi in the 1st Century A.D. This is true. The first paragraph that Indy translates is from an actual statement by Plutarch in history.

 

Page 88 describes a hut of branches, feathers, and beeswax constructed at the Delphi site by Doumas in an attempt to recreate the first Temple of Delphi alleged to have been built there. A similar such hut is alleged by some scholars to have been the first Delphi temple well over 2000 years ago.

 

    The description of the ancient Delphic site in its day on pages 89-90 is very accurate, though the Omphalos is here described as a black stone, while the actual Omphalos of Delphi is a more tan color. The Omphalos is pictured on the cover of this book in the circular inset.

    The Omphalos makes a return in Dance of the Giants, and it is there said to have been worked into its decorative shape from a meteorite. The real world Omphalos is of marble. 

 

On page 90, Indy crosses the Sacred Way at the temple site. This is an actual ancient road that joins the monuments at Delphi.

 

The novel depicts the alleged vapors of Delphi returning to emit from a chasm just as Dr. Belecamus and Indy are arriving in the area. Though Ancient Greek sources claim that such a chasm of vapors is what gave the Pythia the power to foretell the future, modern scholars have found no evidence of such a chasm. Accordingly, there was not a rising of the vapors at Delphi in 1922.

 

On pages 91-92, Belecamus warns the impatient Indy that the age of the treasure-hunting archaeologist-adventurer is over, with archaeology being a slow, painstaking process of studying minute details of fragments, rubble, and garbage of the past. Of course, we the readers know that Indy doesn't let that stop him from becoming just such a treasure-hunting archaeologist-adventurer in the future.

 

The story of a goat being the first victim of the vapors of Python related by Indy on page 92 is an actual part of the Delphic mythology.

 

Chapter 11: Taverna Intrigue

 

Indy stays at the Delphi Hotel. As far as I can tell, this is a fictitious establishment.

 

On page 101, Indy gets punched in a tavern brawl and his vision goes blurry, "Fragments of faces leered. Eyes and noses shifted position like a cubist portrait." Although unintentional by the author since the Young Indiana Chronicles TV series did not exist yet, the description harkens to Indy having met the co-creators of cubism, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in "Passion for Life".

 

Indy's reflections on the Dorians of Ancient Greece on page 105 is roughly accurate.

 

Chapter 12: In the Mist

 

No notes.

 

Chapter 13: Readings

 

Page 120 describes the treasure Croesus supposedly gave to the Temple of Delphi for a single reading. Croesus was the king of Lydia from 585-546 BCE. Croesus was known for his many gifts and donations to the temple.

 

Chapter 14: Last Grasp

 

As Indy dangles in the chasm trying to grab the secure torch holder in the side of the wall on page 130, he wishes he had brought his bullwhip with him instead of leaving it back in his apartment in Paris. He resolves that if he lives to ever go on another archaeological dig, he'll always have the whip with him.

 

On page 135, Indy reflects that he and his father had moved to Chicago when he was 14. This is an otherwise unrecorded time in Indy's life. Likely, author MacGregor included the reference simply as an explanation of why Indy would attend the University of Chicago (because he already lived in the city) since The Young Indiana Chronicles TV series did not exist yet to establish that Indy spent his high school years in Princeton and chose to go to Chicago for its university's archaeology program.

 

    Indy reflects on having met an old American Indian named Changing Man (also called Aguila, which mean "Eagle" in Spanish) when he was living in the southwest when he was 14. Presumably, this refers to his time living in Utah as depicted in his recorded adventures from June 1912 to at least January 1915. This was when he apparently moved to Chicago, as mentioned in the paragraph above in this study. When he returned to the region to spend some time working on his uncle's farm, the year is not stated, but it was "the summer after he had graduated from high school" and he bumped into Changing Man again, who guided him to begin a vision quest. We know from "Spring Break Adventure" that Indy did not complete his senior year of high school in 1918 as he should have, as he signed up for the Belgian Army with his friend Remy Baudouin in 1916 to fight in the Great War instead. He did not return home until May 1919 ("Winds of Change"). But, he was accepted at the University of Chicago during the summer of 1919, so he must have somehow completed his schooling that summer, returned to the southwest and had his vision quest that same summer, then began attending university in Chicago that fall.

    The uncle referred to may be Uncle Pete, who is said to have a farm somewhere in the U.S. in "Journey of Radiance". (There is also Uncle Fred, who owns a ranch in New Mexico, seen in "Spring Break Adventure".)

 

During his vision quest, Indy learned that his spirit animal was the eagle. Later in this novel, Indy has a vision of an eagle which gives him a few brief glimpses of the future. Then, in Dance of the Giants, Indy sees the eagle once more when he is again under the influence of the Omphalos. He also sees a real eagle he takes as a good sign as he and his cohorts attempt to escape the lost city of Ceiba in The Seven Veils.

 

Chapter 15: Maneuvers

 

On page 141, Panos tells Belecamus that the Omphalos had been a gift to Delphi from the god Apollo. But traditional Greek mythology says it came from Zeus.

 

Indy seemingly finds the legendary Omphalos in the chasm. But, in the real world, the carved stone had already been discovered at the site in 1913. Also, Indy is able to hold the object in his hand (and in Dance of the Giants, he is able to put it in his jacket pocket), but the real Omphalos is about 4 feet in height!

 

Chapter 16: Royal Reception

 

On page 150, Indy recalls his father punishing him (by having to eat a garlic clove a day) for not know of the term "moly" until he finally read about it in The Odyssey, that it was a species of garlic said to possess magical protective power, as Hermes gave it to Odysseus to protect him from the enchantments of Circe. This refers to Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, written circa the 8th Century BCE. Odysseus was the legendary Greek king of Ithaca. Hermes and Circe are gods of Greek mythology.

 

Chapter 17: Around the Fire

 

No notes.

 

Chapter 18: Under Guard

 

No notes.

 

Chapter 19: Entrancing Tales

 

No notes.

 

Chapter 20: New Rising

 

As Indy hides and sneaks around, in fear for his life against Mandraki, page 199 notes, "The struggle for survival had honed his senses, making him keenly aware and interested in what was going on around him." It might be argued that Indy first fully developed these senses in the trenches of France during his enlistment in the Belgian Army during the Great War and now they come back to him when he is in danger.

 

Chapter 21: Parisian Pals

 

No notes.

 

Chapter 22: Omphalos

 

On page 217, Indy uses a pickax to chip away at the hard dirt in which the Omphalos is buried, then jiggles the stone with his hands, knowing the artifact was not fragile, but sturdy as the engine block of a Model T. The Model T was a Ford automobile, manufactured from 1908–1927.

 

On page 219, Indy has a vision of Marcus Brody as the curator of a museum with the Omphalos. Brody previously appeared in Tomb of Terror as a friend of Indy's father and will go on to become an important friend in Indy's life.

 

On page 220, a vision of a tweedy scholar appears to Indy, telling him he may want to base his thesis on Linear B, as he has the perfect background to tackle a language puzzle. Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing the earliest form of Greek that was not deciphered in modern times until the 1950s.

 

Another vision shows Indy at Stonehenge and involved with a woman he had become extremely close to. This seems to be a glimpse of events to come in Dance of the Giants. Indy has previously visited Stonehenge in Circle of Death.

 

In Indy's final vision, he sees a collage of images that seem to be an augur of his upcoming life of adventure: jungles, deserts, ruins, lost cities, relics of power, a pit of snakes (possibly the Well of Souls in Raiders of the Lost Ark), a black broken cross (probably a Nazi swastika), a hand bearing a dagger, and another hand offering help.

 

On page 223, Jack makes an astute comment. "I'm starting to think you attract trouble, Indy."

 

Chapter 23: Escape from Delphi

 

As the chapter opens, Jack and Professor Conrad have stolen Mandraki's car, a Pierce-Arrow. Pierce-Arrow was an American manufacturer of luxury automobiles from 1901-1938. Indy reflects that a flivver could be purchased for about $280, but a Pierce-Arrow was out of most families' price range. "Flivver" is a nickname for the Ford Model T.

 

On page 232, Nikos tells Indy that the king's palace is by the new Olympic Stadium. There was no "new Olympic Stadium" at this time. The first Olympics of the modern era was held in Athens in 1896, at the renovated Panathenaic Stadium, built in marble in 144 AD. Not exactly new in 1922. But the royal palace of the time was located near it, as Nikos says. Nilos' directions to Indy as they drive from the Temple of Delphi to the palace are basically correct on a map of Athens.

 

On page 233, Professor Conrad incorrectly states that the first tank battle in history took place in Cambrai in 1917. Though that was the first successful use of tanks in battle, they were first deployed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

 

On page 236, Mandraki remarks to Belecamus that the country is falling apart with the influx of refugees and that the Agora is filled with them. This relates to the huge influx of ethnic Greeks (equaling more than a quarter of the Greek population) into the country from Turkey after Greece lost the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. However, as far as I can determine, the Agora was never used as a refugee camp.

 

Chapter 24: In the Palace

 

When Indy is taken from his, Jack's, and Conrad's cell in the palace and walked to the palace's royal library, he wonders if he's going to be beaten to death with books, noting that Joyce's Ulysses could kill him with a single blow. The book is known as rather thick, running 650-800 pages depending on the edition.

 

The palace provides Indy and his friends a ride to the ferry in a shiny new Cadillac. Cadillac is an American luxury car manufacturer.

 

On page 244, Belecamus, at the Tower of the Winds, looks up at the depiction of the southwest wind, called Lips. Each of the other winds depicted on the tower has its own name, based on the Anemoi, minor gods of wind in Greek mythology:

Boreas (North Wind)
Kaikias (Northeast Wind)
Apeliotes (East Wind)
Eurus (Southeast Wind)
Notos (South Wind)
Lips (Southwest Wind)
Zephyrus (West Wind)
Skiron (Northwest Wind)

 

On page 245, Indy says "Adío," and Belecamus responds, "Fígete." These are Greek for "Bye" and "Go away", respectively.

 

At the end of the novel, Indy has the Omphalos in hand as he heads back to Paris with Jack and Conrad. He muses that he knows a museum curator in Chicago who would love to have it in the Greek collection. It would seem that he is referring to Marcus Brody, as the man was seen with the stone in Indy's vision earlier. The museum in question may be a branch of the (fictitious) National Museum, where Brody is seen or mentioned as curator of the New York branch in a number of later Indy adventures. Dance of the Giants reveals that Brody took the Omphalos and has it on display in his museum (which museum that is at this time is unrevealed).

 

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