Old Earth
the cradle of humankind
Old Earth, also called Terra, was the planet of the al-Lat system on which the human species first arose. After the Butlerian Jihad it dwindled to a memory, preserved in ancestral recollection and in the scattered Terran flora and fauna seeded across the worlds of the Imperium.
Earth, also called Old Earth, Terra or Old Terra, is the planet where humanity began. Dune's glossary calls its sun al-Lat, mankind's original sun. By the era of the Imperium, more than ten thousand years and the Butlerian Jihad later, it has passed largely into memory. (Dune)
The origin of humankind#
Humanity arose on Old Earth. Dune's appendix on religion says that after the Butlerian Jihad the Commission of Ecumenical Translators met on a neutral island of Old Earth, the spawning ground of the mother religions, to assemble the Orange Catholic Bible. Beyond that, Frank Herbert gives the homeworld's history only in glimpses. (Dune)
Memory and inheritance#
Fragments of Terra survive in history and in ancestral memory. In Dune Messiah, Paul Atreides sets his own Jihad against Terran history, pointing out that Genghis Khan and Hitler killed millions while his Jihad has killed billions. (Dune Messiah)
The God Emperor Leto II carries far more. His ancestral memories reach back into Terran history, and he talks of it freely: ancient conquerors such as the Assyrians, the Romans and Greeks, and the music and wars of later ages. (God Emperor of Dune)
Terran life across the stars#
Some of Earth's living legacy survives as adapted creatures on other worlds. Dune's glossary describes the Laza tiger of Salusa Secundus as a breed adapted from Terran stock, and the kulon as a wild ass of Terra's Asiatic steppes adapted for Arrakis. (Dune)
Frequently asked questions
- What is Old Earth in Dune?
- Old Earth, also called Terra or Old Terra, is the planet where humanity began, circling the sun Dune calls al-Lat. By the era of the Imperium it has passed largely into memory.
- Why was so little known about Old Earth?
- More than ten thousand years separate Dune from humanity's departure, and the Butlerian Jihad lies in between. Frank Herbert gives Earth only scattered references, mostly through religion, place names and the ancestral memories of Paul and Leto II.
- What was assembled on Old Earth after the Butlerian Jihad?
- On a neutral island of Old Earth, the Commission of Ecumenical Translators gathered to assemble the Orange Catholic Bible.
- What Terran life survived across the Imperium?
- Dune's glossary names a few. The Laza tiger of Salusa Secundus was bred from Terran stock, and the kulon is a wild ass of Terra's Asiatic steppes adapted for Arrakis.
- How did Old Earth survive in memory?
- Mostly through history and ancestral memory. In Dune Messiah Paul compares his Jihad's death toll with Genghis Khan and Hitler, and in God Emperor of Dune Leto II draws on memories of Terran history going back to the ancient Assyrians and Romans.
Sources
- BookDune, Frank Herbert, 1965
- BookDune Messiah, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1969
- BookGod Emperor of Dune, Frank Herbert, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Arrakis
Arrakis, known as Dune and later as Rakis, was a harsh desert world in the Canopus system and the only natural source of the spice melange. Home to the Fremen and the sandworms, it became the seat of the Atreides empire and the center of the known universe.
Orange Catholic Bible
The Orange Catholic Bible, the Accumulated Book, was one of the most important religious texts of the known universe. Produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators in the wake of the Butlerian Jihad, it sought to fuse all significant religious thought of human history under one supreme commandment.
Salusa Secundus: the prison that bred terror
House Corrino's first homeworld became the empire's penal planet once the court moved to Kaitain. Its cruelty was said to breed the Sardaukar.
Butlerian Jihad: the war on thinking machines
It began with a slave rebellion on Earth in 201 BG and ended at Corrin in 88 BG. Out of it came the ban on machines in the likeness of a mind.
Leto Atreides II
Leto Atreides II was the third and final ruler of the Atreides Empire and its first and only God Emperor. The pre-born son of Paul Muad'Dib, he bonded with a colony of sandtrout to gain near-immortality and ruled mankind for thirty five hundred years to set humanity upon the Golden Path.
Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides was the last Duke of House Atreides and the prophet Muad'Dib of the Fremen. The long-awaited Kwisatz Haderach of the Bene Gesserit, he toppled Emperor Shaddam IV, founded the Atreides Empire, and unleashed a jihad across the Known Universe before walking blind into the desert.
Mentioned in7 entries
Bene Gesserit
The Bene Gesserit were an ancient order of women who wielded power from the shadows of the Imperium through a millennia-long breeding program, mastery of body and mind, and the religious engineering of the Missionaria Protectiva. Their goal was the Kwisatz Haderach, and through him the guidance of humanity.
Earth
Earth, also called Old Earth, Terra, or Old Terra, was the planet of the al-Lat system on which the human species first arose. By the age of the God Emperor it survived chiefly as ancestral memory and as fragments of Terran life carried across the worlds of the Imperium.
Ginaz
Ginaz was an ocean world of scattered archipelagos and the ancestral home of House Ginaz. Its fierce warrior culture, ruled by the Council of Veterans, produced the legendary Swordmasters of the Imperium.
Ix
Ix was the ninth planet of its star system and the great center of machine manufacture in the Known Universe. Its workshops produced the Imperium's most advanced technology, often skirting the proscriptions left by the Butlerian Jihad.
Juno: the Titan lieutenant of Agamemnon
Juno, born Julianna Parhi on Old Earth, was one of the original Titans and the lover and lieutenant of their leader Agamemnon. Cold, analytical, and lethal in battle, she ruled as a cymek for centuries before falling to Quentin Butler on Hessra.
Paul Atreides
Paul Atreides was the last Duke of House Atreides and the prophet Muad'Dib of the Fremen. The long-awaited Kwisatz Haderach of the Bene Gesserit, he toppled Emperor Shaddam IV, founded the Atreides Empire, and unleashed a jihad across the Known Universe before walking blind into the desert.
Planet: worlds of the Known Universe
In the cosmography of the Imperium, a planet was a celestial body in orbit around a star, neither a star itself nor a moon, that had swept its orbital region clear as it formed. From Old Earth outward, humanity settled thousands of such worlds, from the deserts of Arrakis to the oceans of Caladan.
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