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In C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series of novels, Calormen is a large country to the south and east of Narnia. The two countries are separated by a large desert and the country of Archenland. In The Horse and His Boy Calormen is described as being many times the size of its northern neighbours. Calormen borders also extended to an ocean.
Throughout the times covered by the Chronicles of Narnia, Calormen and Narnia maintain an uneasy albeit generally peaceable coexistence. The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle have plot lines prominently featuring Calormen, while other books have peripheral references. In The Horse and His Boy the main characters escape from Calormen to Archenland and Narnia whilse the Calormen calvary under Prince Rabadash attempts to invade Narnia and capture the Narnian Queen Susan for his bride. The calvary is rebuffed at the gates of the Kingdom of Archenland. In The Last Battle, high levels of trade and travel exist between Narnia and Calormen, and a successful invasion by the Calormene military precipitates the end of the Narnian universe.
The ruler of Calormen is called the Tisroc and is believed by the people to have descended in a direct line from the God Tash, whom the people worship in addition to other gods and goddesses. In The Last Battle, Tash serves as an allegorical Satan figure, in opposition to the Christ-like Aslan.
Calormene culture is strongly derived from Middle Eastern culture in general and Islamic civilization in particular. Flowing robes, Turbans and wooden shoes with an upturned point at the toe are common items of clothing, and the preferred weapon is a scimitar. The people of Calormen are very concerned with maintaining honor and precedence, often speak in maxims, quote ancient poets, and are generally characterized within the Narnian chronicles as being rapacious, avaricious, frivolous, indolent and corrupt. They are described as having "dark" skin, and the men commonly wear beards, the nobles oiled beards. The Narnians view Calormen with distaste because of their support of institutionalised slavery and the cruelty of Calormene nobles to their people and animals. The Calormenes in turn view Narnia and Archenland as barbarous lands inhabited by "demons" (one of which they know as Aslan). The male and female nobles of Calormen are referred to respectively as Tarkaans and Tarkheenas.
The generally negative characteristics of Calormene culture have led to accusations of racialism against Lewis, however these are based on contemporary attitudes that were not prevalent at the time Lewis authored his works.
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