John Martin's first major exhibited oil painting, Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion (1812), captures the growing ambivalence towards technological, scientific, and ideological advancements sweeping turn-of-the-century England. Inspired by James Ridley's "Sadak and Kalasrade" from Tales of the Genii (1764), the painting depicts a perilous moment in the protagonist Sadak's quest for the magical Waters of Oblivion. In Ridley's tale, Sadak, while climbing up a volcano, swoons and awakens desperately clinging to the edge of a cliff. Martin's volcanic landscape simultaneously refers to the topics of industrialization, renewed belief in the unfurling Apocalypse, and current advances in evolutionary geology. In early nineteenth-century England, these complex and interlocking concerns regarding progress raised the greater question of man's place in the world. Sadak provides a prophetic vision of the state of man, caught in a cycle linking past ages, present concerns, and future possibilities in a rapidly evolving era.