c. A.D. 20.—"Camelleopards (καμηλοπαρδάλεις) are bred in these parts, but they do not in any respect resemble leopards, for their variegated skin is more like the streaked and spotted skin of fallow deer. The hinder quarters are so very much lower than the fore quarters, that it seems as if the animal sat upon its rump.... It is not, however, a wild animal, but rather like a domesticated beast; for it shows no sign of a savage disposition."—Strabo, Bk. XVI. iv. § 18, E.T. by Hamilton and Falconer.
c. A.D. 210.—Athenaeus, in the description which he quotes of the wonderful procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus at Alexandria, besides many other strange creatures, details 130 Ethiopic sheep, 20 of Eubœa, 12 white koloi, 26 Indian oxen, 8 Aethiopic, a huge white bear, 14 pardales and 16 panthers, 4 lynxes, 3 arkēloi, one camēlopardalis, 1 Ethiopic Rhinoceros.—Bk. V. cap. xxxii.
c. A.D. 520.—
"Ἔννεπέ μοι κἀκεῖνα, πολύθρος Μοῦσα λιγεῖα,
μικτὰ φύσιν θηρῶν, διχόθεν κεκερασμένα, φῦλα,
πάρδαλιν αἰολόνωτον ὁμοῦ ξυνήν τε κάμηλον.
* * * * * * * *
Δειρή οἱ ταναὴ, στικτὸν δέμας, οὖατα βαιὰ,
ψιλὸν ὕπερθε κάρη, δολιχοὶ πόδες εὐρέα ταρσὰ,
κώλων δ' οὐκ ἴσα μέτρα, πόδες τ' οὐ πάμπαν ὁμοῖοι,