Kobol is the birthplace and original home of humanity, from which the civilization departed and formed the Twelve Colonies on other worlds. According to legend, there was also a thirteenth tribe who settled on a "lost" colony, a planet called Earth, whose location remained a mystery to the populations of the other twelve.
Kobol (Battlestar Galactica 1978 Series)
Kobol is the ancestral homeworld of the people of the Twelve Colonies. Twelve of the tribes left to become the Twelve Colonies, the thirteenth tribe left to find Earth.
Kobol, when discovered by Galactica, is a desert planet, with Egyptian themed ruins. The Tomb of the Ninth Lord of Kobol is used by Adama to try to find Earth.
Kobol (RDM)
Kobol is the ancestral homeworld of the people of the Twelve Colonies, and one of two known planets where humans naturally evolved. Though it is a lush, life-supporting planet, Kobol has been uninhabited since the exodus of the Thirteen Tribes. On the surface, only ruins remain as evidence of the once-great civilization that previously existed.
Kobol appears to be a lush Earth-like planet with high mountains and dense forests. The details of its star system, however, have not been discussed. In contrast to the original series, Kobol's ruins appear to be more Greco-Roman analogous than Egyptian. In the final episode of the series, it is revealed that Kobol is one of two planets on which humans possibly evolved naturally (the other planet being our Earth).
Kobol has much of the same mythology of the original series. The thirteenth tribe is noted to have settled on a planet they named "Earth", and there has been no contact between it and the other tribes, which are known as "The Twelve Tribes of Kobol". It is later revealed that the thirteenth tribe is composed entirely of Cylons, meaning that the humans of Kobol had created the original humanoid Cylon race, the "Final Five" being the only apparent survivors of that race. The Cylon resurrection technology is also a rebuilt technology that existed on Kobol before its destruction.[citation needed]
Galactica discovers Kobol, but when it sends a survey team to its surface, their Colonial Raptor is shot down by a squadron of Cylon Raiders dispatched by a Basestar orbiting the planet. Galactica manages to destroy the Basestar, but there is evidence of a Cylon presence on the planet surface.
According to Colonial scriptures, humans lived on Kobol with their gods, the Lords of Kobol. An unspecified conflict spurred the humans of the time to flee Kobol on board the Galleon in the face of "The Blaze". It was said that for any who return, Kobol would exact a price paid in blood.
Kobol is the location of the Tomb of Athena, located near the Gates of Hera. An ancient relic, the Arrow of Apollo, was required to gain entry to the temple ruin in which it is said clues could be found to finding the way to the thirteenth colony, Earth. Within the Tomb were statues representing each of the Twelve Tribes. When the arrow was placed on the statue representing Sagittarius, the location of Earth was revealed. Earth can see the twelve zodiac constellations which were imprinted on the original flags of the Twelve Colonies. Also, the Colonials recognized in the map a nebula that is visible to Earth; in reality, the Lagoon Nebula.
The Kobol opera house and forum, though a ruin in Galactica's time, was apparently once an important civic building on the planet. Five characters, human and Cylon, have experienced visions of the opera house in its original state thousands of years ago, the visions focusing on Hera Agathon or the final five Cylons.
On a scouting mission, Galactica-Boomer and Crashdown discover a habitable planet. (Battlestar Galactica 2004 Series)