Kobol: humanity's lost homeworld
birthplace of humanity
Kobol was the ancestral home of the Twelve Tribes, abandoned for two thousand years. The fleet found the Tomb of Athena there, and with it the way to Earth.
Kobol, the ancestral home of the Twelve Colonies, was a lush, life-supporting planet in the Milky Way galaxy. Though capable of sustaining life, it had been abandoned by all sentient life for some two thousand years, ever since the exodus of the Tribes. Its surface was dotted with the ruins of a once-great civilisation, by then all but reclaimed by nature. Kobol was rediscovered by the refugee fleet led by the Galactica during its search for Earth. (Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I"; "Home, Part I")
Ancient history#
Kobol was thought to be the ancestral homeworld of humans. At the height of its power, control of the planet was split between twelve nations, known as the Twelve Tribes: Aquarius, Aries, Cancer, Capricorn, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus and Virgo. During this era the people of Kobol created humanoid Cylons, and these beings, the Thirteenth Tribe, left Kobol in search of a world of their own, which they called Earth. (Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"; "Home, Part II"; "No Exit")
Later a second catastrophe destroyed much of Kobolian society, resulting in the Exodus of the Twelve Tribes. Licensed material has them leave aboard the Galleon for Gemenon first. In the two thousand years that followed, the planet's location became a mystery, the only insight coming from scripture that spoke of a price to be paid in blood by anyone who would return. Both departures from Kobol open the Battlestar Galactica timeline. (Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I"; Battlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies)
Rediscovery#
Following the destruction of the Colonies in the Cyrannus star system, the ragtag refugee fleet found Kobol during its search for Earth, and settling there was seriously considered. The Cylons, however, had already found the planet and placed a basestar in orbit, and a Raptor survey team was shot down and stranded on the surface. (Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I"; "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"; "Fragged")
The basestar was later destroyed when Lieutenant Sharon Valerii flew a Raptor carrying a nuclear warhead to it, the first major victory for the Colonials since the Fall. The question of Kobol, and of what it meant, split the Fleet, with President Roslin and her followers breaking away to search the planet for the way to Earth. Kobol anchors the season 1 finale, "Kobol's Last Gleaming", and returns in season 2's "Home", both in the season-by-season episode list. (Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"; "Home, Part I")
Landmarks#
The cities of Kobol were ruins in Galactica's time, overgrown by forest. Kobol was also the location of the Tomb of Athena, situated near the Gates of Hera. (Battlestar Galactica, "Home, Part I"; "Home, Part II")
An ancient relic, the Arrow of Apollo, was required to gain entry to the temple ruin in which clues to the way to Earth were said to be found. Within the Tomb stood statues representing each of the Twelve Tribes. When the Arrow was placed on the statue representing Sagittarius, the location of Earth was revealed. The Tomb's projection showed the twelve zodiac constellations as they would appear from Earth, along with a recognisable nebula visible from that world. (Battlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I"; "Home, Part II")
Frequently asked questions
- What is Kobol in Battlestar Galactica?
- Kobol was the lush, life-supporting ancestral home of the Twelve Colonies, located in the Milky Way galaxy. It had been abandoned by all sentient life for at least two thousand years, ever since the exodus of the Thirteen Tribes, and its surface was dotted with the ruins of a once-great civilization.
- Why did the Thirteenth Tribe leave Kobol?
- At the height of Kobol's power, mankind advanced its understanding of robot technology to the point of developing synthetic organic machines. An unknown struggle led to these beings, the Thirteenth Tribe, leaving Kobol in search of a world of their own called Earth.
- How was Kobol's location lost?
- A later catastrophe brought the Exodus of the Twelve Tribes, who left aboard the Galleon for new homes. Over the two thousand years that followed, Kobol's location became a mystery preserved only in religious texts.
- What happened when the refugee fleet rediscovered Kobol?
- Following the destruction of the Colonies, the refugee fleet found Kobol during its search for Earth, but the Cylons had already placed a basestar in orbit, and a Raptor survey team crash-landed on the surface. The basestar was later destroyed by a nuclear warhead carried in one of Galactica's Raptors, a major victory for the Colonials.
- What was the Tomb of Athena on Kobol?
- The Tomb of Athena was a temple ruin on Kobol, situated near the Gates of Hera, that required the Arrow of Apollo to gain entry. When the Arrow was placed on the statue representing Sagittarius, the location of Earth was revealed through a projection of the twelve zodiac constellations as they would appear from Earth.
Sources
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I", Season 1, Episode 12 (2005)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II", Season 1, Episode 13 (2005)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Fragged", Season 2, Episode 3 (2005)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Home, Part I", Season 2, Episode 6 (2005)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "Home, Part II", Season 2, Episode 7 (2005)
- EpisodeBattlestar Galactica, "No Exit", Season 4, Episode 15 (2009)
- BookBattlestar Galactica Map of the 12 Colonies, Quantum Mechanix official map, designed by Geoffrey Mandel
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Earth
Earth was a world settled by the Thirteenth Tribe roughly four thousand years before the fall of the Twelve Colonies. Once home to a flourishing Cylon civilization, it was reduced to a radioactive ruin by a nuclear holocaust, and the Colonial fleet abandoned it days after at last reaching it.
Gemenon: the First Colony
One of the Twelve Colonies settled by the refugees from Kobol, and the most devout of them all, a poor, deeply religious world that suffered with the rest in the Fall.
Hera: gas giant of Helios Beta
Hera was a gas giant in the Cyrannus star system, orbiting the star Helios Beta. It was the third-largest planet in the system and was named for a god of the Colonial religion, the patron deity of Gemenon.
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Colonial Fleet: 120 battlestars
The navy of the Twelve Colonies, which fought the Cylon War. One software exploit cut it to two surviving battlestars on the day of the Fall.
Cyrannus: the Colonies' four suns
Four stars in a double binary, Helios Alpha through Delta, holding all Twelve Colonies. Refugees from Kobol settled them two thousand years back.
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Adriatic
Adriatic was a civilian ship that escaped the Fall of the Twelve Colonies with the Fleet. The only civilian vessel known to carry weapons, it sided with Roslin at Kobol and was later lost in the radiation-soaked star cluster on the way to the Algae planet.
Aerilon
Aerilon was an agricultural world and one of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Known as the food basket of the Colonies, it was a poor, working-class farming world and the birthplace of Gaius Baltar.
Astral Queen
The Astral Queen was a former starliner converted into a Colonial prison transport that survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Its inmates rallied under Tom Zarek, kept control of the ship and made it a power base within the fleet.
Atlas: Lord of Kobol who bore the sky
Atlas appears to be one of the Lords of Kobol worshipped in the Colonial polytheist faith. He gave his name to Caprica City's Atlas Arena, where a great statue of him, posed as if bearing a heavy load, stood watch.
Basestar Type-D: the modern Cylon baseship
The Basestar Type-D, also called the Modern Basestar, was the primary Cylon capital ship at the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and through the war that followed. Partly organic and run by a Hybrid, it served as a fleet carrier and missile platform in the mould of a Colonial battlestar.
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Canceron
Canceron was a planet of the Cyrannus star system orbiting Helios Delta, the most populous of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. A long-standing democracy of vast cities and sprawling slums, it shared an orbit with Aerilon and Hestia.
Caprica: the Colonial capital
Caprica was the richest of the Twelve Colonies, seat of the Colonial government, and the world where the Cylons were built. The Cylon attack destroyed it.
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