# Where on Earth is Rhura Penthe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182 "2003-12-27T00:02:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/1 "2003-12-27T00:02:14Z")
In the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Captain Nemo mentions that he is a survivor of the slave camp island called Rhura Penthe. Has this island ever existed? And, if so, then where? Also, trekkies beware, I already know that the name was used again in one of the Star Trek Movies. ---
**Author:** ![hansolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@hansolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hansolo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/2 "2003-12-27T03:31:56Z")
Rhura Penthe was the mine in underdiscovered country where jim and bones got sent to with the shape shifting woman correct? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/3 "2003-12-27T03:41:58Z")
I believe it was invented for the Disney movie, as Nemo only gave hints as to his background in the novel. He seems to have been an Indian prince fighting against the British invasion and domination of his country. ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/4 "2003-12-27T06:56:07Z")
Thanks hansolo, go freeze yourself in carbonite. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/5 "2003-12-27T07:29:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ficer67 \* > \*\*Thanks hansolo, go freeze yourself in carbonite. \*\* Pretty harsh on the newbies. . . :dubious: In any case, I once understood it was on the floor of the Pacific, near the Marianas Trench. But, that was heresay. I can’t say it exists beyond the Jules Verne or Gene Roddenberry mentions, but I couldasworn I heard it somewhere else. . . Tripler I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again. . . ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/6 "2003-12-28T08:03:56Z")
Perhaps you are right, Tripler, perhaps I am being too harsh on hansolo. I thought I made it clear, however, that I am interested in the real location of Rura Penthe, and not whatever Gene Roddenberry, or William Shatner concocted for thier movie. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/7 "2003-12-28T15:07:33Z")
It’s one of those places that, no matter where you are, its somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/8 "2003-12-28T15:24:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*. . .no matter where you are, its somewhere else. \*\* Sounds like the perfect plotline for _Tripler and his Car Keys_. :mad: Tripler Dangit! I wanna go out for breakfast! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/9 "2003-12-28T16:05:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*It’s one of those places that, no matter where you are, its somewhere else. \*\* Wherever you go, there it ain’t. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/10 "2003-12-28T21:36:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tripler \* > \*\*In any case, I once understood it was on the floor of the Pacific, near the Marianas Trench. But, that was heresay. > > I can’t say it exists beyond the Jules Verne or Gene Roddenberry mentions, but I couldasworn I heard it somewhere else. . . > \*\* Well the Klingons were a sort of take on Communist Russia, so I assumed it was meant to be a take on the Russian concentration camps hence the full name the Gulag Rhura Penthe. Is there anywhere in Russia with a name like that? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/11 "2003-12-28T21:53:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > I believe it was invented for the Disney movie, as Nemo only gave hints as to his background in the novel. > > He seems to have been an Indian prince fighting against the British invasion and domination of his country. Captain Nemo makes another appearance in a Jules Verne novel, _The Mysterious Island_, including more details on his past - that novel does not have Nemo as a main character, and is not as popular or widely known as _20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea_. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/12 "2003-12-28T23:55:26Z")
I don’t recognize the **The Mysterious Island** as a legitimate work giving information about Captain Nemo. The date discrepancies between that potboiler and Professor Aronnax’s comprehensively annotated journals are enough to throw doubt on the events and conversations in that novel. ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/13 "2003-12-29T07:04:28Z")
Well, those were good suggestions, “Gulag Rura Penthe,” “The Mysterious Island,” Marians Trench and all, but there is still no terrestrial reference to Rura Penthe, hence I am siding with DrFidelius and concluding that the name was made up for one of the many slave mines which produced Nitrites and Phosphates for the manufacture of explosives at the time. Thanks guys for your suggestions ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/14 "2003-12-29T08:46:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*I don’t recognize the **The Mysterious Island** as a legitimate work giving information about Captain Nemo. The date discrepancies between that potboiler and Professor Aronnax’s comprehensively annotated journals are enough to throw doubt on the events and conversations in that novel. \*\* Makes me wonder how Verne missed something as simple as the inherent problems with the timetables. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-on-earth-is-rhura-penthe/221182/15 "2003-12-29T10:59:22Z")
Well, most of the folks in _The Mysterious Island_ were from the US - you know those colonials, very clever with their hands but nowhere near the intellectual status of someone from the Continent, particuarly such a refined country as France.