Startling Similarities Between the Necronomicon & the Shepherd's Journal

Updated: June.16.2015

Did the makers of the Disney animated feature film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire borrow the peculiarities of Lovecraft's fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore, the Necronomicon?

While researching for a new article, I came across a booklet, The Mythical World of Atlantis. The Lost Empire from Plato to Disney, a companion to the animated Disney film I mentioned earlier. I thought maybe I'd do something different, a blogpost discussing the myth called Atlantis.
After flipping casually, through the pages towards the end of the book I came across stunning similarities between Disney's fictional book, the Shepherd's Journal, which is a detailed account by an Arab shepherd of his encounter with Atlantis and H. P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon. The compulsion to do this article was so strong I had to blog or drop.

1. The Mad Arab Persona
"The dreaded Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred."

Lovecraft,

At the Mountains of Madness

"The Shepherd's Journal is attributed to a shepherd named Aziz, and was first thought to be the writings of a mad man."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

2. Similarity in Author Names
The Necronomicon is of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.

The Shepherd's Journal is of the mad Arab Aziz.

Abdul is not a full name but a short form of a longer name Abdullahi. On the other hand, it could be the abb. for ABDULAZIZ 0r better yet, ABDUL AZIZ. See the connection?



3. Similarity in Original Book Titles
Both books had two titles and there's similarity between the first titles.

"Original title (of the Necronomicon) Al Azif-azif being the word used by Arabs to designate that nocturnal sound... supposed to be the howling of demons.

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon

"The Greeks were the first to study the (Shepherd's) Journal, the known as the Scrolls of Aziz."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

Seen the rhyming names? Al Azif and Scrolls of Aziz?

4. Both Arab Authors Found an Underground Civilization
"Of (Abdul Alhazred's) madness many things are told. He claimed to have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless desert town the shocking annals and secrets of a race older than mankind."

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon.

"The Shepherd's Journal attributed to a Shepherd named Aziz proved to be a detailed account of the shepherd's unbelievable encounter with a vast underground civilization."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

5. First Translation For Both Volumes was Greek
"In AD 950 the Azif (Necronomicon) was secretly translated into Greek"

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon

"The Greeks were the first to study the (Shepherd's) Journal and revealed them to be more fact than fiction."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

6. Links with Constantinople
"Translated into Greek by Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople."

The Necronomicon
Photo: villains.wikia.com

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon

"A Turkish fortune hunter stole the scrolls from the libraries in Constantinople."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

7. Both Tomes Held at a Library
"They had stopped him from consulting the dubios old books (Necronomicon) on forbidden secrets that were kept under lock and key in a vault at the university library."

Lovecraft,

Dreams in the Witch-House

"Scholars of the day thought the journal of no particular historical significance and it was given to the British Library.

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

8. Both Books Identified with Clergy

"The work both Latin and Greek was banned by Pope Grogory IX in 1232."

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon

"In the year 1589, Pope Sixtus V rechristened the book the Shepherd's Journal."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

9. Both Volumes Form Part of Millionaires' Collection

"A fifteenth century (Necronomicon) is persistently rumored to form part of the collection of a celebrated American millionaire."

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon

"The (Shepherd's) Journal remained in Iceland until the Whitmore-Thatch expedition retrieved it and brought it to Washington for study."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

It is now held in the Preston B. Whitmore (the millionaire who funded the expedition) archives.

10. Both Texts Promise Evil

Lovecraft states again and again in his stories the evil unleashed just by reading the Necronomicon. The  Mythical World of Atlantis tells tales of woes befalling those who came in contact with The Journal.

"Reading leads to terrible consequences."

Lovecraft,

History of the Necronomicon

"All that was known (or handed down through the oral tradition) was that the journal was a book of great power-and possible evil."

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

        

The Shepherd's Journal.
Photo: viewitem.eim.ebay.ru

11. The Yucatan Connection

Lovecraft's story The Temple is similar to tales of Atlantis because the temple is part of an ancient underwater kingdom. One of the characters in the story gives a detailed account of how a remnant of Atlantis in the form of a very odd bit of ivory carved to represent a youth's head crowned with laurel found in the coat pocket a dead sailor steered their submarine to the underwater temple. His manuscript was Found On The Coast of Yucatan.

"After the Viking expedition was destroyed the currents (of the Atlantic Ocean) carried the Journal all the way across the Atlantic to the Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The  Mythical World of Atlantis

12. The Crystal

"In the coffin lay an amulet of curios and exotic design, which had apparently been worn around the sleeper's neck...a small piece of green jade. We recognized it as the thing hinted of in the forbidden Necronomicon of the mad Arab Alhazred."

Lovecraft,

The Hound

"Milo helps Kida uncover the nature of the Heart of Atlantis: it supplies the Atlanteans with power and longevity through the crystals worn around their necks.

Wikipedia,

Synopsis of Atlantis: The Lost Empire

I know, I know, it sounds like the ravings of a mad man. But so did the Necronomicon and the Scrolls of Aziz and people killed to get their hands on 'em. However, does it not strike you funny that the similarities between the two fictional grimoires is so spectacular?

       It's indeed possible the writers of Disney's Atlantis' intention was not to make a reference to Lovecraft's fictional book then again, who knows for sure?

Keep your pen bleeding!

Akpan