There is something about Tashbaan..

Sir Godfrey

Knight of The True Aslan
The Horse and His Boy well always be my favorite chronicle of Narnia. There is just something about the locations, characters, and adventures I can't help but love. I suppose it has something to do with middle eastern setting. Tashbaan is obviously Jerusalem (just like Minas Tirith is Jerusalem in LOTR). I find the Tisroc (may he live forever) to be quite the humorious leader. I adore Aravis,her zeal and spirited personality is one of the reasons the HHB is my favorite. Of course one cannot forget Bree (Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah). Lately horse films are making good revenue in Hollywood, but Spielburg's War Horse and Disney's Secratarit will never surpass the charm of Bree: there is no other horse like him. I could go on and on but I would rather hear the sentiments of those who share my affections for this tale. :)
 
I've personally never seen Tashbaan as standing in for Jerusalem; I mean, the Calormens are pagans who worship a really horrific god, if you think about it. I disbelieve that Lewis intended Tashbaan to be seen as an Israeli city for that very reason. Minas Tirith, I can see. But Tashbaan? Uh-huh.
 
I've personally never seen Tashbaan as standing in for Jerusalem; I mean, the Calormens are pagans who worship a really horrific god, if you think about it. I disbelieve that Lewis intended Tashbaan to be seen as an Israeli city for that very reason. Minas Tirith, I can see. But Tashbaan? Uh-huh.

Jerusalem has been conquered by the Seljurk Turks, Mamlukes, and Ottomon Empire (all three Arab nations) during the Crusades. C.S. Lewis was a Medieval scholar and thus he would have known about the fall of Jerusalem to Islam, and could have written a parallel in the HHB.
 
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The Horse And His Boy is a beautiful book. My concern with it when I was younger was that it was not set in Narnia, but in an adjoining country. The land is so different to the fresh, crisp greenness of Narnia.

However it is a beautiful story. My heart always cheers up when Shasta reaches Archenland and the countryside is green again.

Calormen is obviously meant to be similar to the middle east. The similarities are too obvious for that not to be so. I guess Lewis is showing typical Christian skepticism of the middle east by his treatment of Calormen.

It is an innocent account of the differences between Christianity and Islam as seen through Lewis' eyes.

I'm surprised no one has ever criticised the book for being anti-Islam before. It is a childrens book and a fairy tale. I guess no one takes it seriously enough to call it anti-Islam. But that is another matter.
 
The Horse And His Boy is a beautiful book. My concern with it when I was younger was that it was not set in Narnia, but in an adjoining country. The land is so different to the fresh, crisp greenness of Narnia.

However it is a beautiful story. My heart always cheers up when Shasta reaches Archenland and the countryside is green again.

Calormen is obviously meant to be similar to the middle east. The similarities are too obvious for that not to be so. I guess Lewis is showing typical Christian skepticism of the middle east by his treatment of Calormen.

It is an innocent account of the differences between Christianity and Islam as seen through Lewis' eyes.

I'm surprised no one has ever criticised the book for being anti-Islam before. It is a childrens book and a fairy tale. I guess no one takes it seriously enough to call it anti-Islam. But that is another matter.

C.S. Lewis was quite discrete with his Calormens. He doesn't depict them all as villans: the young Calorman in LB ends up being accepted by Aslan despite having believed in Tash (this was and is still quite controversial: for it indicates that a Moslem could be admitted into Heaven even if he never converted to Christianity. While this enrages many believers, it has probably routed or quelled any criticism from fallowers of Islam.)
 
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There is nothing in the Chronicles to suggest that Tashbaan had been conquered and re-conquered like Jerusalem, so no; Tashbaan cannot be a parallel to it. Maybe Tashbaan could be something like Baghdad or Nineveh or maybe even Babylon. Tashbaan is not like Jerusalem because there were no conflicts among ethnic factions for the possession of the city.
 
I agree. I just cannot see Tashbaan as being symbolic of Jerusalem. To me, it seems to be a city more like Constantinople, as has been suggested, with The Tisroc equating th the Sultan.
 
I think Lewis' portrayal of Tashbaan, and Calormen in general, reflected the attitude of his time about the Ottoman (Turkish) empire, which was faraway and exotic. (btw, Turks are not Arabs - just ask any Arab.)

One thing Lewis was particular to do was not indicate that the Calormenes were Muslims in any way. The fact that they had a big temple with a big idol should tell you that. I think them more reminiscent of ancient Babylon, or the Persian empire, than the Muslim Ottoman.
 
I see Calormen the same way I see China, where one small but powerful state began annexing its culturally and linguistically similar neighbours by hook or crook to form a large empire. I would imagine that like Iraq has its Kurds and Belgium has its Flemish, that there are provinces in Calormen that would gladly pick up their marbles and go home if they thought they could break away. I think it's highly unlikely that the entire huge country has one dialect, one culture or, for that matter, one particular exact style of religion. Even among those who do worship Tash, I imagine there would be majority and minority sects similar to Sunni and Shia Islam that view each other with suspicion.
 
And at the top, the Tisroc keeps the whole country 'united' by ruling with an iron fist, and ever seeking to expand the empire by conquest. Once 'invited' to join the empire of Calormen, I cannot see anyone being allowed to leave, ever!
 
Yazidis?

I sometimes wonder if the Calormen worship of Tash is based on the Yazidi or Yezidi religion. They are a Kurdish people who follow a peculiar syncretistic religion. Central to their belief is the Peacock Angel, Tawuse Melek; who they regard as the guardian of the world.

Muslims have tended to believe the Peacock Angel is Satan and regard the Yazidis as devil-worshippers.

If we want to speculate about where the Calormenes come from, it could be they are themselves Yazidis and the worship of Tash is a corrupted form of the worship of Tawuse Melek.
 
It doesn't help that he's also called Shatan...seriously.

Not to plug my own work...heck, not to SOLELY plug my own work...I had mentioned that in my long form story "Swept Away" when people referred to Calormen as the "Land of the Peacock Throne". I also gave Tash a Seti-style evil brother named Hagamesh that represented rebellion against the divine order. One of their basest insults did not involve bodily functions, but "May Hagamesh use your backbone for a ladder!" I adapted that from a Pict curse. The Picts, uninhibited in their profanity in almost all regards, are superstitiously terrified of speaking about Hell, so rather than telling someone to go there, it's "May the Devil use your backbone for a ladder!' I thought it cute so I used it. ;)
 
There is nothing in the Chronicles to suggest that Tashbaan had been conquered and re-conquered like Jerusalem, so no; Tashbaan cannot be a parallel to it. Maybe Tashbaan could be something like Baghdad or Nineveh or maybe even Babylon. Tashbaan is not like Jerusalem because there were no conflicts among ethnic factions for the possession of the city.

In your opinion you mean. We shouldn't endeavor to close the lines of interpretation. I am saying that Tashbaan is a Jerusalem being occupied by the Calormens for hundreds and hundreds of years (just like the Ottomans). Whoever they conquered could have been Narnian. An expansive history of the Calormens is not in the Chronicles; so that leaves it open to different possible interpretations.
 
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But if Tashbaan was meant to represent Jerusalem, would it not have been given some kind of sacred significance?

I don't see any hint that there is anything holy or wonderful connected with Tashbaan. It is home to two things; a worldly society and the temple of Tash, a place of demonic evil.

If you want to argue for that interpretation, you need to show that the place has some kind of sacred significance.
 
I think I might compare it to...let's say...Mecca or Medina, an alternate Holy Land for the alternate religion. I would imagine, for instance, that the temple courtyard and building could not be entered by a non-believer or it would be punished by instant death.

I put in my "Swept Away" a household spirit called a Daibeh that prevented evil from crossing the threshhold of your home but required small offerings. You hung small valuables on what looked like a coat stand to encourage the Daibeh to take care of you. If a member of the household grew seriously ill, the Daibeh felt guilty for this lapse of his duty and you could sell enough items on the stand to pay for the healer.
 
If we are going to go to conquered nation-states, Narnia was conquered a number of times. First by Jadis, then by Aslan and the Pevensies, then by Caspian I an the Telmarines, then by Caspian X with the help of Aslan and the Pevensies. It finally was attacked for the last time, by the Calormenes.

Calormen was more of a combination of the Ottoman Empire and India. British writers loved to write about India as a familiar yet exotic country as India was a colony of England for a about two centuries. Even in MN, Lewis wrote that Digory's father was in India.

The Calormenes' relgiion and physical description were more Indian while their social rules and dress were more Ottoman.

MrBob
 
If we are going to go to conquered nation-states, Narnia was conquered a number of times. First by Jadis, then by Aslan and the Pevensies, then by Caspian I an the Telmarines, then by Caspian X with the help of Aslan and the Pevensies. It finally was attacked for the last time, by the Calormenes.

Calormen was more of a combination of the Ottoman Empire and India. British writers loved to write about India as a familiar yet exotic country as India was a colony of England for a about two centuries. Even in MN, Lewis wrote that Digory's father was in India.

The Calormenes' relgiion and physical description were more Indian while their social rules and dress were more Ottoman.

MrBob

I agree with your correlation between Calormen and the Ottoman Empire and I see aspects of India in the Calormen culture now that I think about it.
 
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