Scientific name is similar to the ancient: Who saw in Rome 'Indian camels with the color of leopards' Oppian, Cynegetica, III.461-481 Heliodorus, Aethiopica, History, II.51.1 Strabo, The Geography, XVI.4.16 Pausanias, Description of Greece, IX.21.2, Latin Language, V.100 Pliny, Natural History, VIII.xxvii.69 Diodorus Siculus, Library of The giraffe brought from Alexandria by Julius Caesar in 46 BC was theĮxtraordinary creature, it appeared to the Romans to be part camel and part leopard, and was named after both: camelopardalis or camelopard (Varro, On the Rhinoceros-and a lone giraffe (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, V.201C). Other birds and domestic animals) and ended with a display of leopards, panthers, lynxes, a The parade included chariots pulled byĮlephants, gazelles, hartebeests, ostriches, zebras, and wild asses (among The first giraffe to be seen in the classical worldĪppeared in a grand procession staged by Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) toĬelebrate the Ptolemaieia, a dynastic festival introduced in 279 BC. Leopard, and for this reason it bears the joint name of both animals.' Gradually higher, which gives it the appearance of mounting some elevation Īnd towering high aloft, it supports the rest of its body on its front legsĪnd lifts its neck in turn to an unusual height. Same length, the hind legs being the shorter. ThisĪnimal is like a camel in all respects except that its legs are not all of the Introduced into Rome by Caesar for the first time and exhibited to all. 'I will give an account of the so-called camelopard, because it was then

Roman colosseum lions called