In The Horse and His Boy, Calormen is described as being many times the size of its northern neighbours, and it is implied that its army is always either conquering more land or keeping down rebellions, in wars with which neither Narnia nor Archenland are involved.
The Calormene capital is Tashbaan, a large walled city located on an island hill at the mouth of a river and close to the northern desert.
After Caspian the Seafarer restored Narnian rule and abolished slavery in the islands, there was some apprehension of Calormen resorting to war to regain its influence there.
However, Lewis later placed Calormen at the focus of The Horse and His Boy—set a thousand years earlier, at the time of High King Peter.
The Narnian King maintains a supply of Calormene armour and weapons for the purpose of conducting undercover operations in their country—suggesting a kind of cold war.
Flowing robes, turbans and wooden shoes with an upturned point at the toe are common items of clothing, and the preferred weapon is the scimitar.
All of this appears quite consistent with the Osmanli Turkish Ottoman Empire (1299-1923), its known and purported splendor, rigid class structure, and the always-volatile relationship with many of its European neighbors.
The illustrations of Tash, a vulture headed god, by Pauline Baynes appear to be inspired by Hindu as opposed to Islamic imagery, with multiple arms and a distinct resemblance to the ancient Indian deity Garuda.
Ranking below the Tisroc are his sons (princes), a Grand Vizier, and the noble classes, who are addressed as Tarkaan (male) and Tarkheena (female).
The Calormene leaders are portrayed as quite war-like, and the Tisrocs generally seem to have a wish to conquer the "barbarian" lands to their north - to some degree deterred, however, by the magical reputation of the countries, their various rulers and their being known to be under the protection of Aslan.
The capital of Calormen is the walled city of Tashbaan, situated on a river mouth located on the southern verge of the great desert dividing the empire from the northern states of Narnia and Archenland.
Tashbaan is surrounded by a strong wall that rises out of the water and is reached by long bridges from both banks, providing the only place where crossing the great river of Calormen is possible for many miles.
These include such as the following:[5] Application to businessis the root of prosperitybut those who ask questionsthat do not concern themare steering the ship of follytowards the rock of indigence.Natural affection is stronger than soupand offspring more precious than carbuncles.He who attempts to deceive the judiciousis already baring his back for the scourge.Swords can be kept off with shieldsbut the Eye of Wisdom pierces through every defence.Deep draughts from the fountain of reason are desirablein order to extinguish the fire of youthful love.Calormenes disparage Narnian poetry, contending that it is all about things like love and war and not about useful maxims, but when the Calormen-raised Cor and Aravis first hear Narnian (or Cor's native Archenlandish) poetry they find it much more exciting.
In The Horse and His Boy, Lewis uses the cultural settings of Narnia, Archenland, and Calormen to develop a theme of freedom in contrast to slavery.
[7]He also reveals the motivation for Calormene attempts to invade Archenland and, ultimately, Narnia, as a refusal to abide the thought of free countries so close to the border of the Calormene empire, as illustrated by this speech given by the Tisroc: "These little barbarian countries that call themselves free (which is as much to say, idle, disordered, and unprofitable) are hateful to the gods and to all persons of discernment.
[16]In the Russian translation of the Narnia books, Calormen is known as "Tarkhistan" (Тархистан), as a reference to the Tarkaan nobles and its Turkish and Persian cultural influences.