Yopah

Joppa is the destination named in Frederic’s dream and the starting point of the revelation that leads him to a buried sabre and a prophecy concerning Otranto. Its importance lies less in any description of the place than in the chain of signs attached to it: a dream sends Frederic toward a wood near Joppa, a dying hermit discloses where to dig, and a later apparition calls Frederic back to the discovery and its divine command.

The Dream and Its Direction

While held prisoner by the infidels, Frederic dreamed that his daughter was detained in a castle and faced grave danger. The dream directed him to a wood near Joppa, where he would learn more. Unable to follow that instruction while captive, he received his ransom from the allied princes warring in Palestine and set out for the designated wood as soon as he was free.

The Hermit's Revelation

Frederic and his attendants wandered in the forest for three days before finding a cell and its dying hermit. The hermit said that, more than fifty years earlier, Saint Nicholas had appeared to him after his country fell to unbelievers and entrusted him with a secret to reveal only on his deathbed. He directed Frederic and his companions to dig beneath the seventh tree on the left of the cave; after burying the hermit, they followed the instruction and uncovered an enormous sabre at a depth of about six feet.

The Sabre and Its Prophecy

The sabre was the same weapon later displayed in the castle court. Frederic reported that words were inscribed on its blade, but he initially refrained from repeating them to Hippolita, concerned that the prophecy would offend her. Hippolita nevertheless asked him to continue, accepting the sentence as a divine decree. The location near Joppa thus connects Frederic’s release and journey to a supernatural warning with consequences for the ruling family of Otranto.

Return in the Apparition

Later, a spectre confronted Frederic and asked whether he remembered the wood of Joppa. Frederic recognized the apparition as the holy hermit he had encountered there. The spectre then challenged him to remember the buried sabre and the heavenly behest engraved upon it, linking the place not only to the discovery but also to the obligation that discovery imposed. Joppa therefore functions as a recurring point of reference through which the novel binds dream, prophecy, and supernatural judgment.