The preeminent superpower in the world of Narnia is Calormen. Located across the Great Desert to the south of Archenland (which is south of Narnia), the dress, class hierarchy, and other aspects of Calormene society appear to reflect that of the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, if we are to cast Narnia as the Holy Land, ruled by Christian true believers, there is logic in casting their enemy as the foremost Islamic Empire of the Middle Ages. However, there is a fundamental religious divide between monotheistic Islam and the polytheistic Calormene religion whose chief god has a much greater resemblance a god of the Hindus (I personally think that Lewis inserts the Islamic features of Calormene as a smokescreen for the true enemy that Calormen represents, but that’s for another post). Whatever the mold used for Calormen, Lewis had a lot to say about their culture.
While clearly dismissive of certain aspects of Calormene society, such as its religion, Lewis endows Calormen with beauty and magnificence. Its people respect their elders and can display bravery and honor. Lewis appears to have an especially high-regard for Calormene storytelling. In The Horse and His Boy, Lewis remarks that, “in Calormen, story-telling is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.” This should not be dismissed as a minor point given the fundamental values Lewis himself is not attempting to transmit via stories.
However, Lewis does not appear to think much of Calormene poetry. Calormene poetry is, in the words of Ahoshta the Grand Vizier of Calormen, “full of choice apophthegms and useful maxims.” This is in contrast to Narnian poetry which is, “all of love and war.” Thus, Aravis and Cor, the main human characters in The Horse and His Boy, who were both raised in Calormen, “prepare to be bored” upon hearing they would be entertained by an Archenland poet.
Lewis’ dismissal of Calormene poetry is somewhat surprising. After all, fully two books of the Bible (what Lewis would have called the Old Testament), Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, are made up of those same apophthegms and maxims. In fact, some of the maxims found in Calormene poetry encompass ideas similar to those found in biblical poetry!
The book of the Chronicles of Narnia in which the most Calormene poetry is found is The Horse and His Boy. The story centers around Shasta, the lost prince of Archenland who was raised by a poor Calormene fisherman named Arsheesh. Arsheesh takes Shasta in as a foundling but treats him little better than a slave. One day, a Tarkaan (Calormene nobleman) takes lodging at the hut of Arsheesh. Apparently impressed with Shasta, he decides to buy him resulting in a long negotiation the recorded part of which includes quotations of a number of Calromene apophthegms and maxims. In the meantime, Shasta looks to the Tarkaan's horse as a source of information about life in the house of the Tarkaan. Of course, were the horse of the typical Calormene variety he could not tell him. However, it turns out that the horse is actually of Narnian descent and does actually talk! The horse, Bree, and Shasta decide to flee and attempt to reach Narnia. Thus begins their adventures.
Turning back to the poetry, let us take a look at some of the quoted Calormene poetry from the exchange between Arsheesh and Tarkaan and see how it matches up with biblical poetry.
Swords can be kept off with shields but the Eye of Wisdom pierces through every defense. (The Horse and His Boy)This line of Calormene poetry is quoted by Arsheesh to the Takaan who has just informed him of his intention to buy Shasta. Arsheesh initially attempts to pass Shasta off as his own son. The Tarkaan, of course, sees right through the attempt given the obvious difference in skin color between the two. Caught, Arsheesh quotes the above aphorism. There is no actual war taking place, nonetheless this maxim is used by Arsheesh to acknowledge the wisdom of the Tarkaan.
In the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes the author (traditionally assumed to be King Solomon, the wisest of all men) sets out the following parable. A small city with few people is attacked by a great king. The king surrounds to the city which clearly does not have the strength and resources to withstand a siege. Surprisingly, the city is saved thanks to the wisdom of a poor man who, before this event, no one ever cared about (other commentaries say that the city could have been saved but was not because the people did not value the advice of the man since he was poor).
The lesson of this parable is clear; wisdom is, mistakenly, not valued when compared to externals such as wealth and beauty. As is their way, the Sages attempt to identify the historical circumstance on which this parable is modelled. Three are suggested: Jacob preparing to fight against his brother Esau, the wise woman who saves the city of Abel Beth-Ma’acha from the siege of Joab (King David’s general) during the revolt of Sheba ben Bichri, and Hezekiah who saves Jerusalem from the siege of the Assyrian King Sennacherib.
Returning to Ecclesiastes, in the next couple of verses the comparative value of wisdom is stated more explicitly, “Wisdom is better than strength,” and “Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” These verses are very much of the same mind as that quoted by Arsheesh. Why would Lewis look down on Calormene poetry if the biblical lesson is so similar?
Perhaps one point that may have been troublesome to Lewis with respect to this particular maxim is the context in which it is used. There is no real war. There is only a negotiation for a commodity (Shasta). Nonetheless, Calormene society treats the medium of bargaining as a war. Bargaining is a competition in which there is a winner and a loser. This is a sub-optimal way of commerce and bespeaks a troubled society. A better system would be one of fair exchange. The seller sets a price and the buyer chooses whether of not to buy it. In this way both parties would walk away happy. But the warlike Calormenes must make everything a competition and thus the appropriateness of a warlike maxims.
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