The monster that encapsulated all three of these entities—Saracen, Jew, and black African—is the Black Saracen. This is a hybrid monster, an African (implicated as Satan by his dark skin), Jewish (depicted executing a saint), and Muslim (by the moniker “Saracen” as well as by the turban he often wears). With his black, purple, or brown skin, large lips, and curly hair, this monster is clearly meant to represent an Ethiopian, that is, a non-Egyptian African. Satan often masqueraded as a serpent, a dragon, or a human with blackened skin. The Black Saracen is but one of the many forms that Satan took, a symbol of evil walking the earth

DEFINE: Clarifies the medieval 'Black Saracen' as a hybrid monster conflating Saracen, Jew, and black African identities with Satanic evil.

Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imag…, loc. 202