The series introduced Tintin's adversary Roberto Rastapopoulos in "Cigars of the Pharaoh", here depicted as a famous Hollywood film director. It is only in the successor volume, "The Blue Lotus", that he is also revealed as the head of an international criminal organisation. His name was developed by one of Hergé's friends; Hergé thought it was hilarious and decided to use it. He devised Rastapopoulos as an Italian with a Greek surname, but the character fitted anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews; Hergé was adamant that the character was not Jewish. A fourth recurring character introduced in this story was the Portuguese merchant Oliveira da Figueira, who would reappear in both the subsequent "Adventures" set in the Middle East, "Land of Black Gold" and "The Red Sea Sharks". One of the core characters of the story was Sophocles Sarcophagus, an Egyptologist who is the stereotype of an eccentric professor. In this respect, he is a prototype for the character of Cuthbert Calculus, whom Hergé would introduce later in "Red Rackham's Treasure".