THE GIRAFFE. 221 



and most perfect ancient mosaic in existence, apparently represents 

 an Egyptian festival held on the annual inundation of the Nile, 

 and on it are to be seen numerous figures of men and animals ; 

 among the latter are the hippopotamus and the giraffe. This 

 last animal is seen both grazing and browsing. It has been 

 variously ascribed to the time of the later Ptolemies, and by 

 some to the reign of Hadrian; others state it was made by the 

 direction of Sylla, who held the ofl&ce of qu^stor in Numidia, the 

 name given by the Romans to the territory on the north coast of 

 Africa corresponding to some extent with the modern Algiers. 

 The opinion has, therefore, been formed that the artists who 

 executed this and other mosaic work both in Italy and Spain, 

 were Egyptian Glreeks. 



Although thus figured in a temple close to their capital, the 

 Romans do not appear to have seen the animal itself until a 

 few years before the^ Christian Bra. Heliodorus, writing in the 

 fourth century, speaks of the camelopard being brought to Rome 

 among other presents by the Ethiopian ambassadors. Pliny 

 states it was first seen in the Circensian games held by Caesar the 

 Dictator (b.o. 46). But after Egypt belonged to the Romans, 

 these graceful beasts were more frequently conspicuous at the 

 games or shows, but at no time were they ever there considered 

 common animals or seen in large numbers. The third Gordian 

 Emperor, from a.d. 238 to 244, exhibited ten at one time, which 

 was probably the largest number ever collected together away 

 from their native land. 



These animals can be traced through the various writers until 

 " the great blank of literature intervenes," Gibbon " describes the 

 Emperor Commodus slaying in the amphitheatre, in addition to 

 lions, elephants, and rhinoceros, several animals which had been seen 

 only in the representations of arts, or perhaps of fancy, and says in 

 a note, " Commodus killed a camelopardalis or giraffe, the tallest, 

 the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadrupeds. 

 This singular animal, a native only of the interior parts of Africa, 

 had not been seen in Europe since the revival of letters ; and 

 though M. de Buffon has endeavoured to describe, he has not 



6 "Eise and Fall of the Eoman Empire.'' 



