The Golden House of Samarkand
The Golden House of Samarkand is a Corto Maltese graphic novel by Hugo Pratt, published in 1980. The story takes place from December 1921 to September 1922 as Corto travels from the Mediterranean toward Central Asia in search of a legendary treasure said to have been hidden by Alexander the Great.
In Rhodes, Corto uncovers clues tied to a memoir once hidden by Lord Byron’s associate, Edward Trelawny. The clues pull him into a web of post‑war politics with Timur Chevket, General Enver Pasha, and Kurdish and Armenian factions. He moves from the Levant to Adana in Turkey, where he meets the Mevlevi dervishes and learns about a brutal prison called the Golden House of Samarkand, a place Rasputin is said to be kept.
Corto teams up with Rasputin and two women, Marianne and a young Armenian girl, and they chase rumors of a treasure said to lie between Kafiristan and Badakhshan in Afghanistan. They travel through dangerous lands, encounter the Hashshashin legends of New Alamut, and cross the Caspian region while being pursued by Chevket’s men and Armenian nationalists.
The quest builds to a cave guarded by a demon statue, where a huge golden ball is found, but an earthquake swallows the treasure. Rasputin uses the moment for his own ends, and Corto and his companions narrowly escape with the Armenian hostage. After a series of battles and escapes, they reach Venice, where Corto parts ways with Rasputin and the others. Venexiana Stevenson, a former rival, reveals that Corto’s enemies know his true identity, and she announces she is pregnant and returns to Europe with Marianne.
The Golden House of Samarkand is notable for giving Rasputin a larger role and for exploring the contrast between Corto’s amoral charm and Rasputin’s amoral opportunism. It also foreshadows events touched on in later Corto Maltese adventures.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:01 (CET).