The camel outworked the elephant, out-plowed the mule, outdistanced the ox and even managed to scare some Indians. With its Bedouin masters, the camel also mastered the desert and changed history forever.

Across the finish line it came — the sleek white racing car that put Saudi Arabia, and Great Britain, into the forefront of international Grand Prix racing with six national prizes and two world championships.

The Nabateans built a magnificent rock city in the midst of nowhere and a thriving, mercantile civilization that became the envy of Rome.

For more than a century, the Islamic world, from Malaysia to Morocco, has been producing thousands of postage stamps depicting the beauty of the mosque and the minaret — the site and symbol of Muslim worship.

In Cairo today, clowns, acrobats and aerialists — along with lions, elephants, tigers and bears — maintain a spectacular tradition that goes back, some say, to Ptolemy II, 2,000 years ago.