Athmeth was a region in Pangea, the artificially created and maintained tropical forest region that once existed in Antarctica.
One of the eight main regions into which Pangea was usually divided, Athmeth was located in the western half of Pangea and was bounded to the northwest, west and southwest by the Eternity Mountain Range. Athmeth was bounded to the north by the Gorahn Sea and to the east and southeast by Shalan.[1]
Pteros, the domain of the Pterons, was located within Athmeth.[2]
History
Long ago, the forefathers of the Aerians lived in the cavern(s) of Athmeth,[3] then known as "Aerie Athmeth."[4] During that time, the Aerians installed a hidden destruct mechanism that was designed to collapse the entire network of caves in the event of an attack from outsiders.[3]
Centuries ago, when the Pterons attacked and wrested the caverns away from the Aerians, those few Aerians who knew of the device were killed before they could activate it. Unaware of the hidden mechanism, the Pterons made the great halls of Athmeth into their fortress.[3]
In recent times, after the Pterons had kidnapped Queen Leanne of Zarhan, Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil and Zabu aided the Arian army when they attempted to rescue her from the caverns of Athmeth. Although the rescue ultimately failed when Leanne seemingly fell to her death, Shanna did successfully set a small triggering mechanism that, at a pre-set time, activated the ancient destruct mechanism which blew up the pillars supporting the roof of the cavern, trapping the entire Pteron race in the cave as it collapsed onto them.[3]
Ka-Zar and Shanna first saw Athmeth as a whole on a map of Pangea that they had found in an ancient Atlantean outpost.[1]
Weeks later, what remained of the Pteron race, survivors of the cave-in collapse and just-matured hatchlings, were freed from their earthen tomb by Queen Leanne wielding the power of her secret ally/master, Belasco.[5]
Athmeth was presumably destroyed, along with the rest of Pangea, by the being who appeared to be Terminus[6] but was actually Jorro who was posing as Terminus while acting on his behalf.[7]Points of Interest
Residents
Notes
- In Ka-Zar the Savage #2, Athmeth was presented as being the caverns (or cavern) where the Pterons lived. It was only later, in Ka-Zar the Savage #8, that Athmeth was shown to be one of the eight regions that made up Pangea.
- The idea that the domain of the Pterons, known as Pteros, only occupied a small area within Athmeth was first presented on the map of the Savage Land and Pangea that was part of the Savage Land Mutates profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #11.
- Unlike the standard north-up orientation of most real world maps, all maps of the Savage Land and Pangea that have ever been published have been oriented with north towards the left of the map. This means that the lower half of Pangea in those maps is actually the western half.
- The map of the Savage Land Prehistoric Refuge that is part of the Savage Land profile in Marvel Atlas #2 mistakenly lists the name of this region as "Althmeth" but the text uses the correct spelling. Also, the map depicts "Althmeth" as being entirely land-locked, with part of Shalan separating it from the "Gorhan Sea."
See Also
- 2 appearance(s) of Athmeth
- 1 mention(s) of Athmeth
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Athmeth
- 1 article(s) related to Athmeth