Tales of ancient Egyptian expeditions deep into Africa inspired both fiction writers and explorers. Legends of still existing Egyptian civilizations in a lost oasis or in a lost city in the jungle inspired British writer Henry Rider Haggard in the late 19th century to write two of the most widely read boys’ adventure books ever: King
Solomon’s Mines (1885) and She (first published as a series between 1886 and 1887).
Both books are among the highest-selling boys’ adventure books with more than 100 million copies sold in 44 languages. Films have also been made of both stories and the subsequent adventure called Ayesha was serialized in a journal between 1904 and 1905. The main character of King Solomon’s Mines, Alan Quartermain, served as the model for Indiana Jones. In a subsequent novel called Alan Quartermain, the plot involves his expedition’s journey to the land of the white-skinned Zu-Vendi, who seem to be of Egyptian origin.