 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 . 
