Talk:History of elephants in Europe/archive

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Great page! What about the elephants used by Hannibal? Danny 14:51 Feb 23, 2003 (UTC)

Definitely merit a mention. The question of why people used (or continued to use) elephants in warfare is an interesting one: in most battles where elephants were used, the side with the most elephants lost... -- Someone else 00:26 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)
Really? Wow! That is interesting. Do you have a source for that? I would love to look that up. Danny 00:30 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)
I've seen a source mentioned, but have not seen it myself: HH Scullard, The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World, pub. 1974. As I understand it, the idea is that:
  • Elephants tower above horses and men, and can also bear 'towers', increasing this advantage
  • Elephants scare horses and men that aren't used to them
but:
  • Elephants can be scared, and then destroy friendly forces.
This latter fact was used to good effect by the Romans, and seem to outweigh the other factors...though it seems to have taken people a while to figure this out. I'm going to look on the internet for Elephants in battle, I know of some instances:
  • Hannibal in the 2nd Punic War
  • Ptolomaic Greeks in Egypt
  • Scipio at the battle of Zama
  • Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, c. 250 BC
  • Romans vs King Phiippos V of Macedonia
Apparently one of the Roman legions had an elephant on their banner, commemorating their using their foes elephants to their advantage by frightening them with loud horns, the elephants trampling the friendly forces as a result... -- Someone else 00:39 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)


A strange page, but very amusing! :) I have a quibble, though. How can we know what the first elephant in northern Europe was? I don't think people kept very complete records of livestock imports in the olden days... Oh, but of course, the mammoths were the first! And I've just read that the mammoth is more closely related to the Indian elephant than the African elephant is. Now that I never knew... -- Oliver P. 15:22 Feb 23, 2003 (UTC)

When do we discuss elephant and the Jewish problem? :) RK

!!! Who knew?!!! My favorite hit:

Every nation has to write a book about the Elephant:

  • The French book: The Sex Life of the Elephant
  • The English book: Elephants I have Shot on Safari
  • The Welsh book: The Elephant and its Influence on Welsh Language and Culture
  • The American book: How to Make Bigger and Better Elephants
  • The Japanese book: How to Make Smaller and Cheaper Elephants
  • The Finnish book: What Do Elephants Think about Finnish People
  • The German book: A Short Introduction to Elephants, Vol 1-6
  • The Icelandic book: Defrosting an Elephant
  • The Canadian book: Elephants: A Federal or State Issue?
  • The Swedish book: How to Reduce your Taxes with an Elephant
  • The Swiss book: The Country Through Which Hannibal Went With His Elephants
  • The Israeli book: The Elephant and the Jewish Problem
  • The Danish book: Elephants - 100 easy ways of cooking them

Though some of them escape me: I would think the Danes would simply put the elephant on a cracker and glaze it with aspic... -- Someone else 00:59 Feb 24, 2003 (UTC)

   Canada doesn't have states - probly you mean Federal or Provincial jurisdiction.  WilyD 14:36, 30 November 2005 (UTC)