Pndapetzim

Pndapetzim is a fictional city, featured in Umberto Eco's book "Baudolino".

Pndapetzim is a city somewhere in Asia, hundreds of days' walk east of Armenia. Pndapetzim is the entrance to the Kingdom of Prester John, the only and obligatory entrance. It is located on relatively fertile land, cultivated with olive and fruit trees, and is bordered by a huge mountain range, which closes off the rest of the kingdom. It is governed by Deacon Juan, successor of the Priest of the same name. Apparently Juan (or Giovanni) is a title and not a name.

The most striking feature of Pndapetzim is its population. Virtually all of the inhabitants of Pndapetzim are humanoid monsters of the medieval bestiary: Sciapods, Blemishes, Giants, Satyrs, Pontii, Panocians, and Pygmies. The only humans in Pndapetzim are the Deacon's Nubian guards and his eunuch servants. Each race also has its own religious beliefs, its own form of heresy modeled on other famous heresies. For example: the Sciapods follow the heresy of Arius and the Nubians are circumcellions. Despite its heterogeneous population, Pndapetzim lives in peace; its inhabitants respect the Nubian guards and the authority of the Deacon. According to the eunuchs, Pndapetzim is both a fortress against external invasions and a kind of exile colony for the monstrous and heretical population that once inhabited the kingdom of the Prester.

Although nominally the authority of the Deacon is absolute, in reality he is nothing more than a puppet of the Eunuchs, come from the Kingdom. In the last years of Pndapetzim, the deacon fell prey to leprosy and his disease was considered a state secret. The deacon was confined inside the tower and Praxeas, logothete among the eunuchs, manipulated him at will.

The architecture of Pndapetzim is primitive: conical and triangular mud houses. Their churches are carved out of the living rock by giants. They are unaware of metal and they build everything in wood and stone. His cuisine is exotic and based on imaginary animals, such as methagallinario or thinsireta. Their only alcoholic drink is a very strong palm wine called burq. They know nothing of horses, ships or precious stones: they are mired in technological poverty.

For centuries Pndapetzim lived under the threat of the White Huns, which never materialized into an actual attack. When the Huns actually attacked the city, it was unable to defend itself and its entire monstrous population was massacred by the barbarians. The gorge in the mountains that communicated with the kingdom of Prester John was blocked and all communication with the legendary kingdom was lost forever.