Ah, behold the Orient in all its mystery! Gaze into the eyes of this inscrutable man!

The classic "Orient" in European eyes was the part of the world we now often call the "Middle East" or, less commonly, the "Near East." European literature and visual arts often portrayed this Orient as a land of the strange and mysterious, peopled by utter aliens who could never fully be understood and who could never really become modern (whatever that means).