Without elephant , the ancient Library of Alexandria might not have survive . Every war has , as a byproduct , cultural and technical innovation : in our human race , the US Civil War led to medical advancements and the Cold War put us in space . In the classical era , it was the slipstream to make elephant armies that alter the world .
By 275 BCE , Alexandria was the largest , most beautiful metropolis in the world . Its buildings were made of limestone and marble , import from places worlds out . Its comparatively temperate mood meant that flowers were almost always in bloom , yarn-dye foreigner both from warmer and cool climes . Scholars from around the world come up to study and exercise at the Museum and Library . Life in the city was good .
But it was n’t always that room .
Just seven years earlier , when Ptolemy Philadelphos ( second of the rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty ) took the potty , Alexandria was but another urban center on the Mediterranean . In less than one hundred geezerhood , it went from a small seaside Ithiel Town founded by Alexander the Great to the city you find out about in your high schoolhouse world story classes , with its famous lighthouse and subroutine library . All because of elephant .
Above : Mabu , a male African elephant at the Reid Park Zoo . ( Copyright Jessie Greger , used with permission . )
Animal War Machines
Alexander the Great first came across the impressive creature while encroach upon the Persian Empire . It was 331 BCE , at what is now called the Battle of Gaugamela , where Darius , king of Persia , face down the invaders with a phalanx of fifteen elephant . In the volume The Medici Giraffe , historiographer Marina Belozerskaya writes , “ [ f]lapping their ears , trumpeting , and stomping the ground with their arborescent ft , the giant beasts were terrorise to the uninitiate . They hurl soldier and horses into terror , trampled them underfoot , and make for havoc on the battlefield . ” While Alexander won the fight , his fundamental interaction with those glorious creatures would forever alter him . He realized the tactical note value that elephant warrior held , and began to assemble his own elephantine army , starting with the defeated Darius ’s fifteen animals .
Some five years later , Alexander ’s army found itself in India readying for fight with Porus , king of India ’s western region , and his one hundred elephants , their tusks adorned with body - thrust metal tips . Porus had turn elephant into clobber rams and attached fishgig to their face . It is no wonder that Belozerskaya describes the trumpeting of Porus ’s elephantine ground forces as “ blood - chilling . ” As before , Alexander finally prevailed , but only barely . His army gave up after their deadly coming upon with the ivory - bearing state of war - machines . With an army unwilling to fight , Alexander was forced to crawfish . He exit soon thereafter .
elephant themselves did n’t guarantee victory , as Alexander had himself proved . “ ranking strategy and command proved more decisive , ” write Belozerskaya . Still , the appearance of power was crucial . Indeed , Alexander never manage to deform his two hundred elephants into a functional faction of his army . His effort was so fast incite that he could n’t train the animals he apace acquired , all Asiatic elephant , Elephas maximus , originating from India . Instead , the elephant were principally used for ravish equipment , and to stand before his crapper way as a symbol of powerfulness .
Tapestry depict Porus ’s conflict against Alexander ’s army . ( Source )
Upon his expiry , Alexander ’s full general carved up the conglomerate , splitting it amongst themselves . Seleukos convey northerly Syria , most of Asia Minor , Persia , and Mesopotamia . He also got most of the elephant . Since he controlled the route to India , from whence all warfare elephants come , he could forestall his enemies from amassing their own elephant armies . He got an extra 500 elephants in substitution for returning some land to Amerind swayer . It was not long before he became have sex as “ Master of the Elephants , ” creatures which presently beautify the coin minted in his realm , stump opposite his own portrait .
Thanks to Alexander , and to Seleukos , the military - minded begin to gauge their enemies ’ strength , as well as their own , by the number of elephants they commanded . It was an ancient , escalating weapon race , with elephant used more for threat than as actual cock of war .
It was a problem for Ptolemy . After Alexander ’s death , Ptolemy gained control condition of Egypt , and he quickly added Cyprus and part of Libya to his realm . Both he and Seleukos claimed southern Syria for themselves , which was the final stop on trade routes from the Far East , and a reference of precious gems , spices , and more . It was also home to the renowned cedars of Lebanon , wood that was preferred for building ship and tabernacle because it grew so square . But Seleukos ’s deal with the Indians foreclose Ptolemy from acquiring more elephant than he already had . In this ancient arms race , Ptolemy found himself at a loss . He was a cunning strategian , though , and managed to retain his territory long enough to put across it on to his son , Ptolemy Philadelphos .
Silver tetradrachm of Seleucus I , circa 280 BCE . ( Source )
Elephants for an Empire
When Philadelphos became king , southerly Syria was still challenge , claim also by Antiochos , Logos of Seleukos . Like his father , Antiochos retained a monopoly on Asiatic elephant . Like his father , Philadelphos ’s army suffered a lack of the animal war machines . But Philadelphos was extremely develop , and having become familiar with the writing of Aristotle and other Hellenic philosophers , he knew of there were suppose to be other elephant , farther south in Africa .
Philadelphos ’s explorers eventually observe African elephants , Loxodonta africana , along with a chemical group of local Africans who knew how to capture and tame them , in the kingdom of Meroe .
Meroe , in advanced - day Sudan , was the transfer point along the deal routes that connected Africa and Arabia , meaning that salt , Cu , iron , gold , wood , ivory , and valuable wildlife all come through the metropolis . An agreement with Eramenes , king of Meroe , would prove useful to Philadelphos , and not just for elephants , but for access code to those trade routes . For his part , Eramenes want access code to craft with the Mediterranean . The two men , both shrewd loss leader , strike a deal .
It was impossible to transport the elephants up the Nile , so Philadelphos make up one’s mind that they ’d return by way of the Red Sea . But the sea is shallow and rocky , and elephants are heavy . Shipwrecks were common . Philadelphos hired naval engineers to invent special sailboats scream elephantagoi , meaning “ elephant drivers , ” that could get the job done .
Those that live the 8 - day voyage without sinking would land at Berenike , a port wine city that Philadelphos built to facilitate his elephant transfer . Along with elephant , the interface also received ivory , tortoiseshell , rhinoceros horn , spices , thus , myrrh , and human slaves . It was also the station where Native American trading partners post their wares by ocean : rhombus , sapphires , ivory , turquoise , cotton , silk , bread , and pepper . And ointments , perfumes , and cosmetic . Antiochos may have retained control over the terrestrial craft routes with India , but suddenly Philadelphos could now get there by sea . Philadelphos hired archers to protect his ships from pirate in the waters off the Horn of Africa .
R.C. bronze figure of an African elephant used for war . ( author )
Having instal trade with India , Philadelphos transport envoy to King Asoka , grandson of the Rajah who first struck that peck with Seleukos , some ten earlier . He did n’t involve elephants , but what he did need were folk music who knew how to train them . Any mahouts that Ptolemy had inherited from his Father-God were likely very old by now , if alive at all . It is dependable to don that Asoka gave Philadelphos the mahouts he desired . Otherwise , he never would have been able to safely ravish so many from Meroe to Egypt and on to struggle in Syria .
From Berenike , the elephant and their handler had to walk 12 twenty-four hours to Coptos , a urban center on the Nile . Philadelphos had his soldier open data track , dig wells , and work up shade structures along the path . lachrymation place were built at twenty - mile intervals . From Coptos , the elephant were loaded onto barge and shipped north to Memphis , where they could await their dispatch . To aid the elephant caravans , Philadelphos also import the dromedary camel , aboriginal to the Arabian Peninsula . The camels , used to walk on hot desert sand , were well equipped to carry the material trade good from Berenike to Coptos .
An Elephantine Arms Race
In the wintertime of 274 BCE , the entire city of Alexandria celebrated a fete ring the Ptolemaia , which live several weeks . The festival was mean to be a show - and - separate for the newly enriched city , complete with music , theater , nutrient , and drink . The biggest spectacle was a parading re - enactment of Dionysus ’s return from battle in India . A giant statue of the Greek god atop an contrived 18 - foot - tall elephant was follow by twenty - four chariot , each get out by four live elephant . It was not just a solemnisation ; it was a show of violence . By troop almost one hundred elephants through the city , Philadelphos was flexing his military might . It was clean-cut to see that the balance of power in the classical existence was shifting .
In the remnant , it was n’t the elephants themselves that count to history , it was the hobby of those elephants . It was Philadelphos ’s unending private road to acquire an elephant army that built Alexandria into the urban center it was , that led to the organization of one of the most important civilizations in ancient story .
It ’s a mass like the modern space slipstream . It may have been borne out of post - war politics , but it spawn the invention of hokey satellites , and the launching of remote-controlled probes to study the Moon , Venus , and Mars . It resulted in advances made in human space travel both in low-down - solid ground orbit and to the Moon . The space subspecies spur increase spending on scientific research and for education . The modern environmental apparent motion also grew directly out of early space travel thanks to color photos of our pale blue dot taken by spaceman .
Elephants were still used in WWI . Here , an elephant extract some weighed down equipment in Sheffield , England . ( Source )
branch slipstream of all kinds tend to have as byproduct technological , cultural , and diplomatic innovation . Because he was so attached to his elephants , Philadelphos developed newfangled barter routes and forged diplomatical tie that he used to shore up his own territories . He built entire cities from the ground up . The elephant arm race also spur him toward technological founding , such as the excogitation of a fresh class of conveyance ship . The wealth and prosperity that he enjoyed because of those business deal road – make grow ab initio for elephant ! – would allow Alexandria to become known as a place of education , of genial pursuits , the location of the swell library in history . The activate gem of the Mediterranean may never have attain the halo it had if not for the pound pachyderm .
[ For more on the history of elephants in warfare , readThe Medici Giraffe ]
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