Asterix and the Black Gold
French Title:	L'Odyssee d'Asterix
Story:	Albert Uderzo
Illustrations:	Albert Uderzo
French Edition:	1981
English Translation:	1982
Preceded by:	Asterix and the Great Divide
Followed by:	Asterix and Son

Asterix and the Black Gold (original name: L'Odyssée d'Astérix) is the twenty-sixth volume of Asterix comic book series, originally published in 1981. It is the second book to be published after the death of René Goscinny and is thus both written and drawn by Albert Uderzo. Image File history File links Asterixcover-26. ... Albert Uderzo Albert Uderzo (born April 25, 1927 in France) is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Asterix and the Great Divide is the twenty-fifth volume of the Asterix series. ... Asterix and Son is the twenty-seventh volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). ... Asterix the Gaul Asterix (French: Astérix) is a fictional character, created in 1959 as the hero of a series of French comic books (with the same title) by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). ... This is a list of all 33 Asterix official volumes. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... René Goscinny (August 14, 1926 – November 5, 1977) Polish- French author, editor and humorist, who is best known for the comic strip Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and the comic strip Lucky Luke. // Early life René was born in Paris in 1926, to Stanislaw Simkha Goscinny... Albert Uderzo Albert Uderzo (born April 25, 1927 in France) is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. ...

The book describes Asterix's and Obelix's voyage to Mesopotamia. It is mainly inspired by two completely different things: James Bond movies and biblical tales. Obelix Obelix (originally Obélix) is a character, a sidekick with superhuman strength in the Asterix comic books. ... Mesopotamia refers to the region now occupied by modern Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Southwest Iran. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007, is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ... The Bible (From Greek βιβλια—biblia, meaning books, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is the sacred scripture of Christianity. ...

Plot summary

The book begins with Asterix and Obelix hunting wild boar. The boars, however, are crafty and lead them straight into a Roman patrol. The Gauls beat up the patrol, and in the midst of the battle, the boars escape with their lives. Binomial name Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig. ...

Back in Rome, Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar hears of this, and orders M. Devius Surreptitius, the head of the Roman Secret Service, to send an agent to infiltrate the Gauls. This agent is a Gaulish-Roman druid known as Dubbelosix, who travels in a folding chariot full of secret devices. Dubbelosix and Surreptitius communicate with a carrier fly. In Ancient Rome, several men of the Julii Caesares family were named Gaius (Caius) Julius (Iulius) Caesar, the most famous of which was the Dictator Julius Caesar. ... Hittite chariot (drawing of an Egyptian relief) Approximate historical map of the spread of the chariot, 2000 –500 BC. A chariot is a two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle. ... Suborders Nematocera Brachycera Dance fly male Empis tesselata The flesh fly, Sarcophaga carnaria Close-up of the head of a blow-fly. ...

In the Gaulish village, Getafix is extremely frustrated and depressed, because he has run out of rock oil. Without rock oil, he can't make any more magic potion and the village will soon fall against the Romans. Mural painting in Brussels, Belgium, showing characters from the Asterix comics. ...

The next day, Ekonomikrisis the Phoenician merchant arrives in Gaul. This cheers Getafix up, but he soon finds out that Ekonomikrisis forgot to bring any rock oil. This causes him to have a stroke, and chief Vitalstatistix tells Asterix and Obelix to fetch another druid to treat him. This druid turns out to be Dubbelosix. Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plains of what is now Lebanon. ... For other articles with similar names, see Stroke (disambiguation). ... Mural painting in Brussels, Belgium, showing characters from the Asterix comics. ...

Mesopotamia is where Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix want to go, so they and Dubbelosix come on board Ekonomikrisis's ship, which sets sail towards Mesopotamia. Along the way, they fight pirates and Roman warships, obviously winning each battle. But there's one thing that they don't know - Dubbelosix is sending covert messages to the Romans, so they will meet in Mesopotamia, preventing the Gauls from completing their quest. Dogmatix is a fictional character, a dog who belongs to Obelix in the Asterix comics. ... Look up pirate and piracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The Phoenician ship is finally able to land at Judea, where Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix and Dubbelosix disembark and head for the city of Jerusalem. There's a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia, but Jerusalem is a very big and busy city, with Roman patrols everywhere. Ekonomikrisis's friend, Samson Alius, offers them refuge from the Romans and passage towards Babylon, where they'll find rock oil. Dubbleosix is exposed as a Roman agent and left behind. Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ) (Greek: Ιουδαία) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael), an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank, and, in a few geographical definitions of Judea, Jordan. ... Jerusalem (Hebrew:  , Yerushaláyim or Yerushalaim; Arabic:  , al-Quds (the Holy); official Arabic in Israel: أورشليم القدس, Urshalim-al-Quds (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names) is the capital and largest city[1] of the State of Israel with a population of 724,000 (as of May 24, 2006[2... Babylon was a city in Mesopotamia, the ruins of which can be found in present-day Babil Province, Iraq, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. ...

The way to Babylon is across a huge desert, but in the middle of the desert, Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix find a source of rock oil in the ground, so they fill a waterskin with it and head back home. Since Caesar had all of Palestine sealed off to prevent their escape, the two Gauls simply capture Caesar's personal galley - along with Surreptitius and Dubbleosix, who have been awaiting the developments onboard. Erg Chebbi, Morocco In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. ...

Unfortunately, just before landing back in Gaul, the rock oil is lost overboard (Obelix squashes Dubbelosix who was holding the waterskin and trying to spill the oil, causing the oil to squirt over the side). Asterix has lost all hope, but when they come back to the village, they find the Gauls fighting Romans as merrily as ever. It turns out that Getafix has been able to substitute beetroot juice for rock oil, and has managed to produce more magic potion. A beet (called beetroot in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, as well as table beet, garden beet, blood turnip or red beet) is a plant of the genus Beta of which both the leaves and root are edible. ...

All ends well for the Gauls, and they send Dubbelosix and Surreptitius back to Caesar in a gift-wrapped box. Caesar sends them to the Circus Maximus as punishment for failure - with a new show added for a twist... For other uses, see Circus Maximus (disambiguation). ...

Notes

• The character Dubbelosix is an obvious homage to Sean Connery, star of the early James Bond movies. In one scene, his chariot falls off a cliff into the sea, and he has a sudden idea to press a button. In Bond's time, this would have converted the chariot into a submarine, but submarines obviously haven't been invented yet, so nothing happens.

• Surreptius is a caricature of actor Bernard Blier.

• The scene where the papyrus baring instructions self-destructs itself after being read is a reference to Mission Impossible where messages always destroyed themselves after being received.

• The Jew who escorts Asterix and Obelix from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea is based on Asterix creator and writer René Goscinny, who had recently died.

• Asterix's and Obelix's visit to Jerusalem is full of references to the Bible. For example, Economicrisis mentions on page 29 that they have arrived in "the promised land". Asterix and Obelix spend the night in a stable in Bethlehem , and the Roman procurator - known as "Pontius Pirate" (a reference to Pontius Pilate) - is constantly washing his hands.

• Pontius Pirate resembles French actor Jean Gabin.

• In the desert, Asterix and Obelix run into several warrior groups from historical Mesopotamian cultures - Sumerians, Assyrians, Medes etc. - who each greet them with a hail of arrows because they mistake them for their enemies. Incidentally, the cultures have conquered each other in the reversed order in which they appear in the comic; i.e. the Medes conquered the Assyrians, the Akkadians conquered the Sumerians etc. This could also be a reference to the numerous and endless violent battles in the Middle East.

• The bird who gets oil over him and angrily shouts: "Oh no, don't tell me you are starting already!" is a reference to the oil spills, most notably the Amoco Cadiz in Bretagne in (1978).

• The scene of Jerusalem is taken one on one from the fantastic Holyland hotel 2nd temple model as can be seen here in its original location (in a 3d view). This model has been moved to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

• The Jews are all depicted as Yemenite-Jews, with dark skin and black eyes and beards, a tribute to Marc Chagal the famous painter whose painting of King David is hanging at the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), controversially claiming that the Hebrew word "Admoni" means hairy or dark brown, rather than "red head". David was a descendent of the Edomites, the mountains of trans-Jordan, a nation whos national father is referred to in the bible as Esav (the hairy) Edom (the red) or Seir (the hairy).

• Rather than saying the usual 'these romans are crazy', when Obelix requests to eat wild boar, and the Jews all growl at him, he says: These Judeans are crazy! Uderzo brings various small mentions of Jewish traditions, as well as of the Israeli - Arab dispute today, which seemed then to be similar to the condition of Asterix's little village.

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25, 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is an Oscar-winning Scottish actor and producer who is well-known for his portrayal of James Bond. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007, is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Günther Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine Inside of the Argonaute, showing the typical obstructed, tiny space of a post-WWII diesel attack submarine. ... Bernard Blier (11 January 1916 – 29 March 1989) was a French actor. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... Mission: Impossible is the name of an American television series which aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to September 1973. ... The Dead Sea (Arabic: ‎; Hebrew: ) is both the lowest point on the Earth at 418 metres (1,371 ft) below sea level and falling[2], and the deepest hypersaline lake in the world at 330 m (1,083 ft) deep and 799 m (2,621 ft) below sea level. ... René Goscinny (August 14, 1926 – November 5, 1977) Polish- French author, editor and humorist, who is best known for the comic strip Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and the comic strip Lucky Luke. // Early life René was born in Paris in 1926, to Stanislaw Simkha Goscinny... The word Bible refers to the canonical collections of sacred writings of Judaism and Christianity. ... Leland Stanfords horse stable, still in use Horse kept in stable A stable is a building in which livestock, usually horses, are kept. ... Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم house of meat; Standard Hebrew בית לחם house of bread, Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem; Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem; Greek: Βηθλεέμ) is a city in the West Bank under Palestinian Authority considered a central hub of Palestinian cultural and tourism industries. ... Ecce Homo (Behold the Man!), Antonio Ciseris depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem. ... Jean Gabin (May 17, 1904 – November 15, 1976) was a major French actor and war hero. ... Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... Relief from Assyrian capital of Dur Sharrukin, showing transport of Lebanese cedar (8th c. ... The Medes(ancient Kurdistan) were an Iranian people, who lived in the north, western, and northwestern portions of present-day Iran, and roughly the areas of present day Tehran, Hamedan, Azarbaijan, north of Esfahan, Zanjan, and Kurdistan. ... Akkad (or Agade) was a city and its region of northern Iraq) between Assyria to the northwest and Sumer to the south. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The Amoco Cadiz was a supertanker, owned by Amoco, that split in two after running aground on Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, in March 16, 1978, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history. ... Location Administration Capital Rennes Regional President Jean-Yves Le Drian (PS) (since 2004) Départements Côtes-dArmor Ille-et-Vilaine Morbihan Finistère Arrondissements 15 Cantons 201 Communes 1,268 Statistics Land area1 27,209 km² Population (Ranked 7th)  - January 1, 2005 est. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The modern Knesset building, Israels parliament, in Jerusalem Though similar-sounding, Beit Knesset (בית כנסת) literally means House of Assembly, and refers to a synagogue. ...

More information

• http://www.mage.fst.uha.fr/asterix/odyssee/etude.html (in French)