Abydos was the first planet reached through Earth's Stargate program and was considered one of the first worlds the Goa'uld brought humans to. When this desert world was under the domain of Ra, he forced the human inhabitants to mine naquadah for him up until his eventual defeat and death. (Stargate Origins, RPG: "Roleplaying Game")
Abydos was later destroyed by Anubis in 2003.
Overview[]
Abydos from space.
Abydos consists of two major landmasses, the continents of Desh'retts and Khemhelt. Less than 40% of the planet is covered in water, making the entire surface of the world arid, even near the polar regions. The climate of Abydos is subject to great change, primarily with the presence of mighty earthquakes and torrential sandstorms. Most of these natural occurrences are due to Abydos' three moons, which exert great tidal forces against the planet and make subtle alterations to the magnetic field.
Abydos' Stargate lies to the west of the Great Lake of Khemhelt, surrounded by a vast desert that stretches for miles in all directions. This desert holds some of the oldest and original rock formations of Abydos, uprooted from the depths and uncovered by blowing sands. These small mountains of rock are rich in mineral deposits of naquadah.
Abydos orbits one sun, Nut, a spectral class G4 main sequence star. The Abydonian day lasts 36 hours and an orbit of the sun takes 242 days. Orbiting Abydos are three moons; Edfu, Dja'Net and Nuturo. (RPG: "Roleplaying Game")
Aset's domain[]
10 years after the first gate of Tau'ri is uncovered, Dr. Wilhelm Brücke forcibly takes control of the Stargate and travels to Abydos with Prof. Paul Langford as prisoner, along with Eva and two Nazi soldiers. They meet Aset there who was raising a harcesis child hidden from Ra. Later young Catherine Langford, with the help of Beal and Wasif, goes to Abydos through the Stargate to rescue his father. Aset hoped to gain slaves from Tau'ri through Brücke, in exchange for Naquadah; but Prof. Langford warns her that Dr. Brücke will turn his back on her. Shortly after that, Catherine shoots Dr. Brücke. He gets wounded but Eva shoots him and kills him. By that time, Ra arrives on Abydos to confront her after Serqet warned him. Before she was confronted, Aset erased the memories of Prof. Langford, Catherine and Kasuf. Prof. Langford forgets the language of the Gods, Catherine's memory of the event was fogged, and she was to assemble a team to return through the Stargate with greater power to destroy Ra. She was also told to mark the team with her Eye of Ra pendant. Kasuf was suggested to go to the city of Nagada and lead the people there, and to help the team who will come bearing the Eye of Ra pendant. In the meantime, Beal dialled the gate and managed to send Prof. Langford and Catherine back, but Serqet catch up to Beal and shoots and kill him with her staff weapon. Wasif and Motawk was taken by Ra as a jackal guard. He also tell to move the Stargate and repair the dialing device, and to destroy the Temple of Aset and the Nosdevli outpost. (Stargate Origins)
Ra's rule[]
Naquadah open mine on Abydos.
At the time the Tau'ri first reached Abydos, the group researching the Stargate was not certain of its use. The symbols for this world were the first valid gate address they discovered. A team was sent through, headed by Colonel Jack O'Neill, to look for signs of any "possible danger" on the other side. When the Abydonians first met the team, they were friendly, believing the team had been sent by Ra.
The execution Daniel Jackson was going to perform.
When Ra returned to Abydos and discovered a Nuclear warhead, he captured the travelers and made plans to send the bomb back to Earth with a Naquadah enhancement. He captured O'Neill and revived Dr. Daniel Jackson, who had been killed in the struggle, with his Sarcophagus. He then told Jackson that unless he executed the rest of the party he would kill him and "all who have seen you."
Jackson grudgingly began to carry out the executions, but then turned on Ra and his guards at the last second, allowing him, the team and a group of young Abydonians to escape. Daniel managed to convince the Abydonians that their rulers were not gods and encouraged them to rebel. When Kasuf finally did so, Ra attempted to leave the planet, but O'Neill and Jackson transported the bomb aboard his ship by using the Transportation rings, killing him shortly thereafter.
Jack O'Neill and his men returned to Earth, but Daniel Jackson remained on Abydos. (Stargate)
After Ra's rule[]
After Ra's rule, the Abydonians thought they were free and continued on with their lives with Dr. Daniel Jackson. For over a year, all contact with Earth had been nonexistent until O'Neill returned with a second team to see if attacks on Earth in 1997 were from Abydos. After finding out that the attacks were not based from Abydos, Daniel Jackson showed the team a Cartouche containing a map of Stargate addresses etched into a structure's wall. Immediately after this, the unknown aggressors who arrived on Earth (commanded by Apophis) arrived at Abydos and killed or injured many Abydonians and Major Louis Ferretti. Daniel Jackson then decided to return to Earth to help save the captured Sha're and Skaara, commanding the other Abydonians to bury the Stargate for one year until his return. (SG1: "Children of the Gods")
In 1998, after escaping Hadante, Linea hacked into Stargate Command's computer system and dialed Abydos to escape on her own. (SG1: "Prisoners")
- This may have been a reuse of the Abydos address from prior in the series. Whether it was meant for her to go to Abydos or not is unknown.
The destruction of Abydos.
In 2003, Abydos was destroyed by Anubis and its inhabitants killed when Anubis' mothership destroyed the planet with the Eyes of the Goa'uld with Anubis presumably using the planet as a means of testing his new superweapon. However, despite the planet being destroyed, Oma Desala was able to help the Abydonians ascend. Oma Desala also briefly preserved the Stargate and a survivable area of the planet around it so that SG-1 could safely return to Earth. (SG1: "Full Circle")
Indigenous animals[]
An indigenous animal that lived on Abydos.
A species resembling a camel but woolly, known as a Mastadge, was indigenous to Abydos and was domesticated by the Abydonian people to serve their needs as transportation and possibly food. There was also a lizard-like animal that Daniel Jackson commented that it tasted like chicken.
Alternate realities[]
- In an alternate reality visited by Daniel Jackson in 1998, Jack O'Neill likewise led the first mission through the Stargate to Abydos with the intention of detonating a nuclear warhead in 1996. However, the Daniel Jackson of that reality was not involved in the mission. Like his counterpart in our reality, Jack was willing to commit suicide following the recent death of his son Charlie O'Neill. Ra was likewise killed during the mission, though it is unclear if his death occurred under the same circumstances as in our reality. Ra's death indicated to the Goa'uld that the Tau'ri were a significant threat to them, resulting in Apophis' devastating attack on Earth in 1998. (SG1: "There But for the Grace of God")
- In another alternate reality, it was Doctor Samantha Carter rather than Daniel Jackson who discovered how to operate the Stargate. Although it is not specifically stated, it can be assumed that, in this reality, the first mission through the Stargate was likewise to Abydos. (SG1: "Point of View")
Appearances[]
| Appearances for Abydos |
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In chronological order:
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Locations[]
- Cartouche
- Temple of Ra
- Temple of Aset
- Caves of Kaleemah
- The city of Nagada
- Desh'retts
- Khemhelt
- Tent city (Nosdevli outpost)
- Mines of Aldbeth
- Oasis of Repentance
- Map Room
Behind the scenes[]
- The scenes on Abydos in the feature film were filmed in California and Yuma, Arizona. For the series, new footage of Abydos was filmed in Vancouver, Canada, where the show is filmed.
- The planet was not given a name in the original film. The name "Abydos" seems to have originated from Bill McCay's novel series. In real life, Abydos is an Egyptian city.
- In the movie Abydos is placed in the Kaliem Galaxy though its gate address only has seven chevrons. In Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, where eight chevrons are required to reach a gate in another galaxy, Abydos is located in the Milky Way, and is in fact among the closest planets to Earth in the network. The fan explanation is simply an error in the primitive gate interface caused it to calculate the destination improperly in the film, or that Kaliem is supposedly a sector of the Milky Way.
- In "Children of the Gods", Daniel states that the Gate is guarded "36 hours a day", which implies that the Abydonian solar cycle lasts 36 hours (if not more).
- The gate address for Abydos was reused many times in the series.
Gallery[]
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- Abydos in Kathleen Ritter's Lexicon.
- GateWorld's article on Abydos in The Stargate Omnipedia