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The Count of Monte Cristo
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The Count of Monte Cristo (1846) (edit title/settings)

by Alexandre Dumas, père (Author) (edit contributors)

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Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of Château d'If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot... read more

Summary edit see section history

Edmond Dantès is a young sailor working aboard the ship Pharaon. His life is nothing short of perfect: he has a loving father, is about to marry the beautiful Mercédès, the one he loves, and will soon be promoted to captain aboard his ship. Edmond’s wonderful life is ripped away from him,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Edmond Dantès is a young sailor working aboard the ship Pharaon. His life is nothing short of perfect: he has a loving father, is about to marry the beautiful Mercédès, the one he loves, and will soon be promoted to captain aboard his ship. Edmond’s wonderful life is ripped away from him, however, when his shipmate, Danglars, and Fernand Mondego, the cousin of Mercédès become increasingly jealous of him. Fernand and Danglars have Edmond arrested for carrying a letter that was given to him by Napoleon Bonaparte. Dantès is escorted to see M. Villefort, the public prosecutor in Marseilles to determine whether or not a trial is necessary for Edmond. Edmond tells Villefort that the letter was given to him by Napolean, but he didn’t know what it was for. He said he was just doing as was asked of him by his dying captain. Villefort seems to believe that nothing is wrong, until he finds out that the letter was addressed to his father, Noirtier. Villefort then has Edmond Dantès sent to the Chateau d’If, a prison on an island used only for dangerous prisoners.
Edmond spends fourteen years in prison, and while he is there, he swears revenge on those who caused his suffering: Danglars, Fernand, and Villefort. While he is in prison, he meets a man named Abbé Faria, who tells him of a treasure that he is certain is buried on the Island of Monte Cristo. They promise each other that they will escape together, but Faria dies of a paralyzing fit before they can leave. Edmond manages to escape on his own, and eventually finds his way to the island. He finds the treasure, and becomes extremely wealthy off of it. Now that he has escaped prison, and made his fortune, Dantès begins to plan his revenge. From this point on in the story, Edmond Dantès calls himself the Count of Monte Cristo, as well as Sinbad the Sailor, and Abbé Busoni for some of the time.
After taking his title and finding his fortune, we see Monte Cristo in Rome for a festival. There, he meets Albert Morcerf, the son of Fernand and Mercédès, who got married after Edmond was believed to be dead. Monte Cristo befriends him after saving him from a band of Bandits, and he goes and takes up residence in Paris. In Paris, Monte Cristo takes many slow and careful steps to fulfill his plans of revenge, which includes murder, poisonings, money, rejections, mystery, and many many other aspects. The Count seems to affect every single person he comes in contact with, and every time he comes in contact with someone, it is usually part of his revenge. He does, however, end up helping a couple of people, even if it doesn’t at first seem as if he is helping them. By the end of the story, after his revenge is complete, Monte Cristo feels he took some of it a little too far, but things end up well for the most part.

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  • “And that is the very thing that alarms me," returned Dantès. "Man does not appear to me to be intended to enjoy felicity so unmixed; happiness is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, fiery dragons defend the entrance and approach; and monsters of all shapes and kinds, requiring to be overcome ere victory is ours. I own that I'm lost in wonder to find myself promoted to an honour of which I feel myself unworthy,—that of being the husband of Mercédès.”
    Edmond Dantès
  • “In politics, my dear fellow, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas—no feelings, but interests; in politics we do not kill a man, we only remove an obstacle, that is all.”
    Monsieur Noirtier
  • “My son, philosophy, as I understand it, is reducible to no rules by which it can be learned; it is the amalgamation of all the sciences, the golden cloud which bears the soul to heaven.”
    Abbé Faria
  • “And now," said the unknown, "farewell kindness, humanity, and gratitude! Farewell to all the feelings that expand the heart! I have been Heaven's substitute to recompense the good—now the God of Vengeance yields to me his power to punish the wicked!”
    Edmond Dantès
  • “When we show a friend a city one has already visited, we feel the same pride as when we point out a woman whose lover we have been.”
    (narrator)
  • “Alas! poor Albert, none of those interesting adventures fell in his way; the lovely Genoese, Florentine, and Neapolitan females were all faithful, if not to their husbands, at least to their lovers, and thought not of changing even for their splendid appearance of Albert de Morcerf; and all he gained was the painful conviction that the ladies of Italy have this advantage over those of France, that they are faithful even in their infidelity.”
    (narrator)
  • “There is no gainsaying the plain fact, that a very unfavourable construction would have been put upon the circumstance of two females going together to a public place, while the addition of a third, in the person of her mother's admitted lover, enabled Mademoiselle Danglars to defy malice and ill-nature while visiting so celebrated a place of amusement.”
    (narrator)
  • “Ah, how strange it seems that such a young and beautiful woman should be so avaricious!”
  • “It is not for herself that she is so, but for her son; and what you regard as a vice becomes almost a virtue when looked at in the light of maternal love.”
    Maximilian Morrel and Valentine de Villefort about Madame de Villefort
  • “One may forsake the mistress, but a wife, good heavens! there she must always be; and to marry Mademoiselle Danglars would be awful.”
    Albert de Morcerf
  • “On you, Valentine! Oh, Heaven forbid! Woman is sacred; the woman one loves is holy.”
    Maximilian Morrel
  • “Had you continued to remain on amicable terms with me, I should have said, 'Patience, my friend'; but you have constituted yourself my enemy, therefore I say, 'What does that signify to me, sir?'”
    Beauchamp
  • “Women of certain grade are like grisettes in one respect, they seldom return home after twelve o'clock.”
    (narrator)
  • ““My dearest,” said Valentine, “has the count not just told us that all human wisdom is contained in these two words--‘wait’ and ‘hope’?””
    Valentine de Villefort
  • “"Oh, man," murmured d'Avrigny, "the most selfish of all animals, the most personal of all creatures, who believes the earth turns, the sun shines, and death strikes for him alone, - an ant cursing God from the top of a blade of grass!”
    M. D'avrigny
  • ““Listen; for ten years I dreamed each night the same dream. I have been told that you had endeavored to escape. … Well, Edmond, I swear to you, by the head of that son for whom I entreat your pity—Edmond, for ten years I saw every night every detail of that frightful tragedy, and for ten years I heard every night the cry which awoke me, shuddering and cold. And I, too, Edmond—oh believe me—guilty as I was—oh, yes, I too have suffered much.”“Have you known what it is to have your father starve to death in your absence?” cried Monte Cristo, thrusting his hands into his hair. “Have you seen the woman you loved giving her hand to your rival, while you were perishing at the bottom of a dungeon?”“No,” interrupted Mercedes, “I have known worst. For I have seen him whom I loved on the point of murdering my son.””
    Edmond and Mercedes
  • “The stranger cast one look around her, to be certain that they were quite alone; then bending as if she would have knelt, and joining her hands, she said with an accent of despair, “Edmond, do not kill my son.””
    Mercedes
  • “All human wisdom is contained in these two words: 'wait' and 'hope'!”
    Edmond in a letter to Maximilien Morrel and Valentine
  • “"He who has a partner has a master." - Italian Proverb as Quoted by Monsieur Morrel”
    Monsieur Morrel
  • “"We’re never quits with those who have done us a favor. Even when we no longer owe them money, we still owe them gratitude."”
    Edmond Dantès
  • “"That was my only prayer at last; I no longer begged for liberty, but memory; I dreaded to become mad and forgetful"”
    Edmond Dantès
  • “"Every earthly ill yields to two all-potent remedies, time and silence."”
    Edmond Dantès
  • “Lead two sheep to the butcher's, two oxen to the slaughterhouse, and make one of them understand that his companion will not die; the sheep will bleat for pleasure, the ox will bellow with joy. But man - man, whom God created in his own image - man, upon God has laid his first, his sole commandment, to love his neighbour - man, to whom God has given a voice to express his thoughts - what is his first cry when he hears his fellowman is saved? A blasphemy. Honour to man, this masterpiece of nature, this king of the creation!”
    Monte Cristo
  • “Perhaps what I am about to say may seen strange to you, who are socialists, and vaunt humanity and your duty to your neighbour, but I never seek to protect a society which does not protect me, and which I will even say, generally occupies itself about me only to injure me; and thus by giving them a low place in my esteem, and preserving a neutrality towards them, it is society and my neighbour who are indebted to me.”
    Monte Cristo
  • “Things take their course without our assistance. While we are forgetting them, they are falling into their appointed order; and when, again, our attention is directed to them, we are surprised at the progress they have made towards the proposed end.”
    Albert de Morcef
  • “The friends of today are the enemies of tomorrow.”
    Monte Cristo
  • “Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.”
    Narrator
  • “All this, because my heart, which I thought dead, was only sleeping; because it has awakened and has begun to beat again; because I have yielded to the pain of the emotion excited in my breast by a woman's voice.”
    Monte Cristo
  • “Joy to hearts which have suffered long is like the dew on the ground after a long drought; both the heart and the ground absorb that beneficent moisture falling on them, and nothing is outwardly apparent.”
    Narrator
  • “'He who wishes misfortunes to happen to others experiences them himself.' - Proverb as quoted by Danglars”
    Baron Danglars
  • “There is something so awe-inspiring in great afflictions that even in the worst times the first emotion of a crowd has generally been to sympathize with the sufferer in a great catastrophe.”
    Narrator
  • “The count of Monte cristo. Annotated quotes”
  • “Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another.”
    Edmond
Show all 33 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

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Organizations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

On February 24, 1815, the lookout at Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the arrival of the three-master Pharaon, from Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples.

Table of Contents edit see section history

From the Unabridged Version translated by Robin Buss

Chapter 1. Marseille - Arrival
Chapter 2. Father and Son
Chapter 3. Les Catalans
Chapter 4. The Plot
Chapter 5. The Betrothal
Chapter 6. The Deputy Crown Prosecutor
Chapter 7. The Interrogation
Chapter 8. The Chateau D'If
Chapter 9. The Evening of the Betrothal
Chapter 10. The Little Cabinet in the Tuileries
Chapter 11. The Corsican Ogre
Chapter 12. Father and Son
Chapter 13. The Hundred Days
Chapter 14. The Raving Prisoner and the Mad One
Chapter 15. Number 34 and Number 27
Chapter 16. An Italian Scholar
Chapter 17. The Abbe's Cell
Chapter 18. The Treasure
Chapter 19. The Third Seizure
Chapter 20. The Graveyard of the Chateau D'If
Chapter 21. The Island of Tiboulen
Chapter 22. The Smugglers
Chapter 23. The Island of Monte Cristo
Chapter 24. Dazzled
Chapter 25. The Stranger
Chapter 26. At the Sign of the Pont du Gard
Chapter 27. Caderousse's Story
Chapter 28. The Prison Register
Chapter 29. Morrel and Company
Chapter 30. September the Fifth
Chapter 31. Italy - Sinbad the Sailor
Chapter 32. Awakening
Chapter 33. Roman Bandits
Chapter 34. An Apparition
Chapter 35. La Mazzolata
Chapter 36. The Carnival in Rome
Chapter 37. The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian
Chapter 38. The Rendez-vous
Chapter 39. The Guests
Chapter 40. Breakfast
Chapter 41. The Introduction
Chapter 42. Monsieur Bertuccio
Chapter 43. The House at Auteuil
Chapter 44. The Vendetta
Chapter 45. A Shower of Blood
Chapter 46. Unlimited Credit
Chapter 47. The Dapple-Greys
Chapter 48. Ideology
Chapter 49. Haydee
Chapter 50. The Morrels
Chapter 51. Pyramus and Thisbe
Chapter 52. Toxicology
Chapter 53. Robert le Diable
Chapter 54. Rise and Fall
Chapter 55. Major Cavalcanti
Chapter 56. Andrea Cavalcanti
Chapter 57. THe Alfalfa Field
Chapter 58. Monsieur Noirtier de Villefort
Chapter 59. The Will
Chapter 60. The Telegraph
Chapter 61. How to Rescue a Gardener from Dormice who are Eating His Peaches
Chapter 62. Ghosts
Chapter 63. Dinner
Chapter 64. The Beggar
Chapter 65. A Domestic Scene
Chapter 66. Marriage Plans
Chapter 67. The Crown Prosecutor's Office
Chapter 68. A Summer Ball
Chapter 69. Information
Chapter 70. The Ball
Chapter 71. Bread and Salt
Chapter 72. Madame de Saint-Meran
Chapter 73. The Promise
Chapter 74. The Villefort Family Vault
Chapter 75. The Judicial Enquiry
Chapter 76. The Progress of the Younger Cavalcanti
Chapter 77. Haydee
Chapter 78. A Correspondent Writes from Janina
Chapter 79. Lemonade
Chapter 80. The Accusation
Chapter 81. The Retired Baker's Room
Chapter 82. Breaking and Entering
Chapter 83. The Hand of God
Chapter 84. Beauchamp
Chapter 85. The Journey
Chapter 86. Judgement is Passed
Chapter 87. Provocation
Chapter 88. The Insult
Chapter 89. Night
Chapter 90. The Encounter
Chapter 91. Mother and Son
Chapter 92. Suicide
Chapter 93. Valentine
Chapter 94. A Confession
Chapter 95. Father and Daughter
Chapter 96. The Marriage Contract
Chapter 97. The Road for Belgium
Chapter 98. The Inn of the Bell and Bottle
Chapter 99. The Law
Chapter 100. The Apparition
Chapter 101. Locusta
Chapter 102. Valentine
Chapter 103. Maximilien
Chapter 104. The Signature of Baron Danglars
Chapter 105. The Pere Lachaise Cemetery
Chapter 106. The Share-Out
Chapter 107. The Lions' Pit
Chapter 108. The Judge
Chapter 109. The Assizes
Chapter 110. The Indictment
Chapter 111. Expiation
Chapter 112. Departure
Chapter 113. The Past
Chapter 114. Peppino
Chapter 115. Luigi Vampa's Bill of Fare
Chapter 116. The Pardon
Chapter 117. October the Fifth

Glossary edit see section history

  • three-master: a sailing ship with three masts.
  • clocked: an ornamental pattern woven or embroidered on the side of a stocking or sock near the ankle.
  • Tous les mechants sont beuveurs d'eau; C'est bien prouve par le deluge.: All the wicked are drinkers of water, as well proved by the deluge.
  • a l'Anglais: like the British (in this case meaning they are toasting the way the British would toast)
  • Quinze: 15 (in this case referring to Louis XV or fifteenth
  • M.: Short for Monsieur
  • Cedant arma togae: Let arms yield to the gown; let violence give place to law.
  • bids fair: appears or seems likely
  • imprinting a son-in-law's respectful salute on it: kissing her hand
  • Messrs.: Monsieurs (plural for formally referring to men, or singular for referring to a company, as in this case)
  • like a scaffold to a malefactor: comparing the feelings Dantes has on seeing the prison with the feelings a criminal has when he sees the platform where criminals are hung
  • governor: the head of a public institution (in this case the equivilant of a warden in America.)
  • Pastor quum traheret: when the shepherd was dragging; refers to an ode where Helen of Troy is being dragged off
  • Mala ducis avi domum: You lead wickedness to the home of your forefather
  • bella, horrida bella: war, horrid war
  • duck-and-drake: a pastime in which flat stones or shells are thrown across water so as to skip over the surface several times before sinking
  • Justum et tenacem propositi virum: a man just and steadfast of purpose
  • the sin which ruined our first parents: Original Sin - in Genesis in the Bible, the temptation of Adam and Eve by the snake to gain forbidden knowledge by eating the fruit of a forbidden tree. Here, the servant is trying to gain knowledge that has been forbidden to him, only instead of gaining the knowledge by eating he seeks to gain it by eavesdropping
  • Jupiter: Roman name for Zeus, appropriate given two roman emperors are referenced earlier in the same paragraph.
  • Martin's Babylonian pictures: John Martin (19 July 1789 – 17 February 1854); The Fall of Babylon (1819).
  • Ugolino: Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (c. 1220 – March 1289), count of Donoratico, was an Italian nobleman, politician and naval commander. He was frequently accused of treason
  • Archbishop Roger: Nephew of Cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubaldini, Ruggieri degli Ubaldini was archbishop of Pisa from 1278-1295.
  • mene tekel upharsin: The writing on the wall" (or "the handwriting on the wall" or "the writing's on the wall" or "Mene Mene"), an idiom, is a portent of doom or misfortune. It originates in the Biblical book of Daniel—where supernatural writing foretells the demise of the Babylonian Empire.
  • him who died for us: Christian reference to Jesus
  • Caesar Borgia: 13 September 1475 or April 1476 -€“ 12 March 1507), Duke of Valentinois, was an Italian mercenary soldier leader (or warlord), nobleman, politician, and cardinal. Although he was an immensely capable general and statesman, Cesare would have trouble maintaining his domain without continued Papal patronage. Niccolò Machiavelli cites Cesare's dependence on the good will of the Papacy, under the control of his father, to be the principal weakness of his rule, arguing that, had Cesare been able to win the favor of the new Pope, he would have been a very successful ruler.
  • Alexander VI: Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet of Chestnuts in 1501.
  • Clement VII: Clement VII (26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534), born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534. Although unable to gain the Papacy for himself or his ally Alessandro Farnese (both preferred candidates of Emperor Charles V, he took a leading part in determining the unexpected election of the short-lived Pope Adrian VI, with whom he also wielded formidable influence. Following Adrian VI's death on 14 September 1523, Medici finally succeeded in being elected Pope Clement VII in the next conclave (19 November 1523).
  • Duc de Beaufort: The illegitimate grandson of Henry IV of France. He was also cousin to Louis XIV. Returning to France, Beaufort became the centre of a group, known as the "Importants", in which court ladies predominated, especially the Duchess of Chevreuse and the Duchess of Montbazon. For an instant after the king's death, this group seemed likely to prevail, and Beaufort to be the head of the new government. But Cardinal Mazarin gained the office, and Beaufort, accused of a plot to murder Mazarin, was imprisoned in Vincennes, in September 1643. Beaufort escaped from prison on 31 May 1648.
  • Latude: Jean Henri Latude (23 March 1725 – 1 January 1805), often called Danry or Masers de Latude, was a French writer famous for his lengthy confinement in the Bastille, at Vincennes, and for his repeated escapes from those prisons.
  • Cabanis: Pierre Jean George Cabanis (5 June 1757 – 5 May 1808) was a French physiologist and materialist philosopher.
  • maigre: In Christianity / Roman Catholic Church refers to food not containing flesh, and so allowed on days of religious abstinence. Also a title of such a day. In this particular reference, maigre days refers to the religious days of abstinance from meat. Common maigre or fast days for Catholics include the periods of Lent, Advent, Ember Days four seperate sets of 3 days), Rogation Days (four days set aside to invoke God's mercy), and Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Although many Catholics now only observe during the previously mentioned religious holidays, and all Fridays throughout the year. Translation from French: lean
  • Cardinal Spada: (April 21, 1594 – November 10, 1661) An Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a great patron of the arts. His father was the rich merchant Paolo Spada (unrelated to the Spada family of ancient nobility).
  • Holy Week: The last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday (or in the Eastern, Lazarus Saturday) until, but not including, Easter Sunday.
  • chimerical: highly improbable or unlikely
  • Pain, thou art not an evil.: Alexandre Dumas
  • the great philosopher: Alexandre Dumas - Pain, thou art not an evil.
  • Doctor Pangloss: A character in Candide, ou l'Optimisme, a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with optimism by his mentor, Pangloss.
  • piastres: Spanish pieces of eight
  • those who buried Alaric: Alaric I was likely born about 370 on an island named Peuce at the mouth of the Danube in present day Romania. King of the Visigoths from 395-410, Alaric was the first Germanic leader to take the city of Rome. When he died, his body was, according to legend, buried under the riverbed of the Busento. The stream was temporarily turned aside from its course while the grave was dug wherein the Gothic chief and some of his most precious spoils were interred. When the work was finished, the river was turned back into its usual channel and the captives by whose hands the labor had been accomplished were put to death that none might learn their secret.
  • Pont du Gard: An ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gard River in southern France
  • Frailty, thy name is woman: Shakespeare; Hamlet Act 1, scene 2, 146
  • diem: latin for day
  • Raoul in the 'Huguenots,': Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps. The story culminates in the historical St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 in which thousands of French Huguenots (Protestants) were slaughtered by Catholics in an effort to rid France of Protestant influence. Although the massacre was a historical event, the rest of the action, which primarily concerns the love between the Catholic Valentine, daughter of Count de Saint-Bris and the Protestant gentleman Raoul, is wholly a creation of Scribe.
  • Lucullus: Lucius Licinius Lucullus (c. 117 BC-57/56 BC), was a politician of the late Roman Republic. In the culmination of over twenty years of almost continuous military and government service, he became the main conqueror of the eastern kingdoms in the course of the Third Mithridatic War, exhibiting extraordinary generalship abilities in diverse situations. So famous did Lucullus become for his banqueting that the word lucullan now means lavish, luxurious and gourmet. Once, Cicero and Pompey succeeded in inviting themselves to dinner with Lucullus, but, curious to see what sort of meal Lucullus ate when alone, forbade him to send word ahead to his slaves to prepare a meal for guests. However, Lucullus outsmarted them. He ordered that his slaves serve him in the Apollo Room, and as his slaves had been schooled ahead of time as to precisely what to make for each of the different dining rooms, Cicero and Pompey ate the most luxurious of all meals.
  • amphitryon: A son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis. Having accidentally killed his father-in-law Electryon, king of Mycenae, Amphitryon was driven out by another uncle, Sthenelus. He fled with Alcmene, Electryon's daughter, to Thebes, where he was cleansed from the guilt of blood by Creon, his maternal uncle, king of Thebes. Alcmene, who was pregnant and had been betrothed to Amphitryon by her father, refused to marry him until he had avenged the death of her brothers, all of whom except one had fallen in battle against the Taphians. He fell in battle against the Minyans.
  • bas-relief: A sort of sculpture where the the projection from the surrounding surface is slight and no part of the modeled form is undercut. The advantage of the natural contour of the figures allows the work to be viewed from many angles without distortion of the figures themselves.
  • Bey of Tunis: Monarchs of Tunisia. Monarch ruled from 1705, when the Husainid Dynasty ascended to the throne, until 1957, when monarchy was abolished.
  • Appert: Nicholas Appert; 1749-1841. He began as a hotelkeeper, became a brewer, switched to chef and later was a confectioner in Paris. He discovered the process that kept foods from spoiling. This invention was prompted by Napoleon Bonaparte's offer of 12,000 francs to the man who could invent a useful way of preserving food for his army.
  • Hassen-ben-Sabah: A Persian Muslim missionary who converted a community in the late 11th century in the heart of the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. His search for a base from where to guide his mission ended when he found the castle of Alamut in the Rudbar area in 1088. It was a fort that stood guard to a valley that was about fifty kilometers long and five kilometers wide. The fort had been built about the year 865. Hassan's takeover of the fort was one of silent surrender. To effect this takeover Hassan employed an ingenious strategy. First Hassan sent his followers to win the villages in the valley over. Next, key people were converted and in 1090 Hassan took over the fort. It is said that Hassan offered 3000 gold dinars to the fort owner for the amount of land that would fit a buffalo'€™s hide. The term having been agreed upon, Hassan cut the hide in to strips and link the strips around the perimeter of the fort. From this point on his community and its branches spread throughout Iran and Syria and came to be called Hashshashin or Assassins, a mystery cult that existed from around 1092 to 1265. The legends of the Assassins had much to do with the training and instruction, famed for their public missions during which they often gave their lives to eliminate adversaries. Misinformation from the Crusader accounts and the works of anti-Ismaili historians have contributed to the tales of assassins being fed with hashish as part of their training.
  • assafoetida: Also known as devil's dung, stinking gum, asant, food of the gods, giant fennel, hing and ting. It is the dried latex exuded from the living underground tap root of several species of Ferula, which is a perennial herb. The species is native to India. It has a pungent, unpleasant smell when raw, but in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks.
  • Amphion: Amphion is the son of Zeus and the nymph Antiope, the queen of Thebes. His twin brother is Zethus. He married Niobe, and they had six sons and six daughters, called the Niobids. The god Hermes taught Amphion music and gave him a beautiful golden lyre. Both brothers were supposed to have built the walls of Thebes, while Amphion played his lyre. The magic of his music caused the stones to move into place on their own accord.
  • Phryne: A famous hetaera (courtesan) of Ancient Greece (4th century BC).
  • Messalina: A Roman empress as the third wife of the Emperor Claudius. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she conspired against her husband and was executed when the plot was discovered.
  • bournous: a long cloak of coarse woollen fabric with a hood
  • Eternal City: Rome
  • Corpus Christi: A Latin Rite solemnity. It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Liberal Catholic Churches. It does not commemorate a particular event in Jesus' life but celebrates the Body of Christ, consecrated in the Mass. It is held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, in some places, on the following Sunday.
  • Holy Week: The last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday (or in the Eastern, Lazarus Saturday) until, but not including, Easter Sunday.
  • Carnival: A festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February.
  • Feast of St. Peter: A liturgical feast in honour of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is observed on 29 June.
  • ring og Gyges: A mythical magical artifact mentioned by the philosopher Plato in book 2 of his Republic. It granted its owner the power to become invisible at will.
  • Avenging Angel: The Hebrew Bible, and then Christian and later Jewish sources, make frequent mention of one or more "destroying angels," which in Proverbs 16:14 are termed the "angels of death" "The wrath of a king <is as> messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it."
  • Callot's Temptation of St. Anthony: Jacques Callot was a baroque printmaker and draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine. The most inspired of all his satirical and grotesque works is the engraving The Temptation of St Anthony, also known as The Second Temptation of St Anthony, because Callot had already created a work on this subject in 1617.
  • baiocco: Italian for penny
  • Aquilo: Latin name for Boreas, the purple winged God of the north wind
  • Se alle sei della mattina le quattro mile piastre non sono nelle mie mani, alla sette il Conte Alberto avra cessato di vivere: If six o'clock in the morning, the four thousand piastres are not in my hands, at seven the Count Albert will have ceased to live
  • Manfred: Manfred is a Faustian noble living in the Bernese Alps. Internally tortured by some mysterious guilt, which has to do with the death of his most beloved, Astarte, he uses his mastery of language and spell-casting to summon seven spirits, from whom he seeks forgetfulness. The spirits, who rule the various components of the corporeal world, are unable to control past events and thus cannot grant Manfred's plea. For some time, fate prevents him from escaping his guilt through suicide. At the end, Manfred dies defying religious temptations of redemption from sin. Throughout the poem, he succeeds in challenging all authoritative powers he comes across, and chooses death over submitting to spirits of higher powers.
  • Lara: A powerful narrative poem that tells of the fateful return of Count Lara to the British Isles after spending years abroad traveling the orient. Returning to his patrimony with a retinue consisting of one foreign-born page, Count Lara resumes the management of his landed estates. Lara's first efforts are crowned with success: only to be undermined by the jealousy and envy of his peers.
  • non bis in idem: This phrase signifies that no one shall be twice tried for the same offence; that is, that when a party accused has been once tried by a tribunal in the last resort, and either convicted or acquitted, he shall not again be tried.
  • Ariel: Generally presented as an authority over the Earth and its elements, Ariel has also been called an angel of healing, wrath & creation.
  • Caliban: One of the primary antagonists in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Caliban is the son of the luciferous woman Sycorax by (according to Prospero) a devil. In some traditions he is depicted as a wild man, or a deformed man, or a beast man, or sometimes a mix of fish and man, stemming from the confusion of two of the characters about what he is, found lying on a deserted island.
  • King Mithridates: Mithridates VI, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia (now Turkey) from about 120 BC to 63 BC. In his youth, after the assassination of his father Mithridates V in 120 BC, Mithridates is said to have lived in the wilderness for seven years, inuring himself to hardship. While there, and after his accession, he cultivated an immunity to poisons by regularly ingesting sub-lethal doses of the same. He invented a complex 'universal antidote' against poisoning.
  • aquatofana: A strong poison that was reputedly widely used in Naples and Rome, Italy. During the early 17th century Giulia Tofana, or Tofania, an infamous lady from Palermo, made a good business for over fifty years selling her large production (she employed her daughter and several other lady helpers) of Aqua Tofana to would-be widows. The product was sold to lady clients, accompanied by instructions for its use.
  • Jardin des Plantes: The main botanical garden in France. It is situated in Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine.
  • Apicius: Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet and lover of refined luxury who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius.
  • Lucina: In ancient Roman religion and myth, Lucina was the goddess of childbirth. She safeguarded the lives of women in labour.
  • first story: In Europe, the first story or floor is equivilant to the second floor in the United States of America.
  • Fiesco: The second full length drama written by the German playwright Friedrich Schiller. It is a republican tragedy based on the historical conspiracy of Giovanni Luigi Fieschi against Andrea Doria in Genoa in 1547. The character Fiesco, Count of Lavagna, is head of the conspiracy. A young, slender, radiantly handsome man. He is 23 years old, has well-mannered pride, majestic friendliness, and is politely adroit as well as wily.
  • Pilate: Pontius Pilate, the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26-36. In all gospel accounts, Pilate is reluctant to condemn Jesus, but is eventually forced to give in when the crowd becomes unruly and the Jewish leaders remind him that Jesus's claim to be king is a challenge to Roman rule and to the Roman deification of Caesar. Roman magistrates had wide discretion in executing their tasks, and some readers question whether Pilate would have been so captive to the demands of the crowd. Pilate was later recalled to Rome for his harsh treatment of the Jews. Pilate's reluctance to execute Jesus in the gospels has been seen as reflecting the authors' agenda. It has thus been argued that gospel accounts place the blame on the Jews, not on Rome, in line with the authors' alleged goal of making peace with the Roman Empire and vilifying the Jews.
  • Deo ignoto: unknown to (in this context, erect an altar without his knowledge)
  • Atreidae: The House of Atreus begins with Tantalus. Tantalus initially held the favor of the gods, but decided to cook his own son Pelops and feed him to the gods as a test of their omniscience. Most of the gods, as they sat down to dinner with Tantalus, immediately understood what had happened, and, because they knew the nature of the meat they were served, were appalled and did not partake. But Demeter, who was distracted due to the abduction by Hades of her daughter Persephone, obliviously ate Pelops' shoulder. The gods threw Tantalus into the underworld, where he spends eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any. Thus is derived the word "tantalize". The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing the bone in his shoulder with a bit of ivory, thus marking the family forever afterwards.
  • Omphale: A daughter of Iardanus, either a king of Lydia, or a river-god. She was the wife of Tmolus, the oak-clad mountain king of Lydia; after he was gored to death by a bull, she continued to reign on her own. In one of many Greek variations on the theme of penalty for "inadvertent" murder, for his murder of Iphitus, the great hero Heracles, whom the Romans identified as Hercules, was, by the command of the Delphic Oracle Xenoclea, remanded as a slave to Omphale for the period of a year, the compensation to be paid to Eurytus, who refused it.
Show all 81 glossary entries

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Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Alexandre Dumas, père (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: French
Publisher: Chapman and Hall
Country: France
Publication Date: 1846
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 1312

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PQ2226 .A33
  • Dewey: 848'.7

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

An excellent tale of revenge, good for young adults and adults.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Man in the Iron Mask
  • The Black Tulip
  • Prince of Foxes

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • The Black Count

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • CliffsNotes on Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo
  • Spark Notes The Count of Monte Cristo
  • A Prisoner of Birth

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