Visual representations of dromedaries in <scp>Greco‐Roman</scp> antiquity and the middle ages: Imagining the other before orientalism

The diorama Lion Attacking a Dromedary found in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History rightfully belongs to an Orientalist artistic tradition that crystallized many discriminatory misrepresentations people color have plagued our society this day. Camels and dromedaries, associated with “Orient,” constituted integral element exotic vision held disseminated by Europeans. motif camel its dark-skinned rider, however, emerged centuries prior context colonial Europe across media. This paper explores surfacing subsequent proliferation as symbol otherness foreignness Antiquity Middle Ages relation Christian imperial ideologies. I argue material evidence points long-standing associative combination and/or foreign origin thus establishes precedent worth attention we continue wrestle racial political ramifications Dromedary.