| Summary: | It is a fact that Central Arabia was long overlooked by the exploration expeditions which in the 19th century endeavoured to methodically criss-cross the world. The author notes that travellers who eventually undertook the journey — especially Carlo Guarmani and the Blunts — were particularly keen to find Arabian purebred horses, often the prime motivator of these expeditions. The somewhat paradoxical nature of such a quest –as horses can barely survive in such an arid environment- suggests a change in mentalities concerning representations of the desert which, in the post-romantic era, is no longer perceived as a hostile and repulsive frontier, but rather a positive geographical entity: the cradle of noble races—the concept becomes authoritative then - with special virtues.
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