Earth

This article refers to elements from Original Dune Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons: Earth article for Expanded Dune Earth article for The Dune Encyclopedia

Planet Earth

"Our ancestor, Assur-nasir-apli, who was known as the cruellest of the cruel, seized the throne by slaying his own father and starting the reign of the sword. His conquests included the Uramia Lake region which led him for Commagene and Khabur. His son recieved tribute from the Shuites, from Tyre, Sidon, Gebel and even from Jehu, son of Omri, whose very name struck terror into thousands. The conquests which began with Assur-nasi-apli carried arms into Media and later into Israel, Damascus, Edom, Arpad, Babylon and Umlias. Does anyone remember these names and places now? I have given you enough clues: try to name the planet."

―The Stolen Journals

Earth, also called Old Earth, Terra, or Old Terra, was the third planet located in the Sol star system. The human species originated there.

It was on a neutral island of Old Earth where the Commission of Ecumenical Translators converged to assemble the Orange Catholic Bible after the Butlerian Jihad.

During the reign of Emperor Paul Atreides the "Golden Age of Earth" was considered nothing more than myths from the dawn of time. Little information where known about the old times, owing to the pittance of data which the Butlerians left behind. Paul that Stilgar look into historical Terran references found in the Golden Age including Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler for a comparison to him. Scytale also knew of Earth and remembered the Golden Age and the camels of the planet.

The God Emperor Leto Atreides II, by whose time Earth no longer truly existed, recalled many things from Terran history through his ancestral memory, including Songs of the Long Trek which had not been preserved in the Oral History. The tune of "Liet's March" was really ancient, described as a pre-space thing of Old Terra. He also recalled including Torquemada, the Romans and Greeks, the conquests of Assur-Nasir-Apli, musicians such as Mozart and Bach, Napoleon, Islam, and the Jesuits.

The Bene Gesserit drew patterns of Old Earth on many planets, sometimes only a faint sketch, but sometimes succeeding, like on Chapterhouse.

Behind the scenes

In Children of Dune, Ghanima and Leto Atreides II, in a private moment between them, spoke French, implied to be a nearly extinct language.