The Ivory King: A popular history of the elephant and its allies

by Charles Frederick Holder

The elephant has figured prominently in the arts from the earliest times. The first artist in ivory was undoubtedly contemporaneous with the mammoth; as upon a piece of mammoth’s tusk, taken from a cave in France, there is a rude but quite correct representation of one of these huge animals: and the figure of the elephant seems to have been a favorite with the sculptors of all times. On the island of Elephanta, there are the remains of an ancient statue of an elephant. A fine cutting of an Indian species with young was found upon the walls of Pompeii; and the animal is often seen on the bas-reliefs along the Nile ([Plate XXII]).

It is upon medals, however, that the elephant figured most prominently, these now valued relics having been struck off in honor of the ancient kings and queens to commemorate their deeds of valor. An interesting medal ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 1) was struck in honor of Tranquillina, the wife of Gordian; the Romans at this time, in a spirit of poetical exaggeration, choosing the elephant as a symbol of eternity. The legend “Æternitas Aug.” is expressive of a wish that the emperor shall live as long as an elephant, which was then believed to be three or four hundred years.

The sagacity of the elephant is often referred to in the ancient mythology of the Hindoos; and Ganessa, the god of wisdom, is represented in the temples of India with a human body and an elephant’s head: curiously enough, several ancient medals show the head of Socrates united with that of an elephant in connection with two other heads. [Plate XXI.], Fig. 2, is explained by Chifletius as referring to the trial of Socrates; and the two heads are supposed to be those of Anytus and Melitus, his accusers. This, however, has been questioned. A Neapolitan medal ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 3), supposed to be antique, represents an elephant standing before the tripod of Apollo, upon which the sacrificial fire is burning. Medals are in existence in Europe, showing the pretended religion of the elephant. Such a one was struck by Cardinal Zabrella ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 4), and shows one of these animals worshipping the moon.

In the “Museum Cuspinianum,” edited by Laurentius, there is figured a medal ([Plate XXII.], Fig. 5) which is supposed to represent Alexander after his conquest in Persia, entering through the gate of a city, or a triumphal arch, in a chariot drawn by four elephants. On the other side of the medal, the head of Alexander is shown, with Neptune on one side of his helmet. Some experts consider this medal as spurious.

Alexander figures on many medals, and a very fine one ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 6) represents his head covered with an elephant’s skin. On the reverse is Minerva, armed with a helmet, shield, and spear; and before her an eagle holding lightning in his talons. Berger supposes it to refer to the defeat of the elephants of Porus.

Quite similar in general appearance to this is a medal ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 7) supposed to represent Ptolemy Philadelphus. The head of an elephant, or the skin of the head, is used as a head-covering, the tusks extending over the head as in a Roman medallion of Africa ([Plate XXII.], Fig. 9).

The last record of the elephant in Syria is found upon a coin ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 8) struck in honor of Antiochus, who was raised to the throne in the two hundred and twenty-fifth year of the era of the Seleucidæ, 87 B.C. The elephant is represented as bearing a torch, according to the custom of the Syrian monarchs, with the horn of plenty behind him. Julius Cæsar had many medals struck off in his honor. One ([Plate XXII.], Fig. 10) represents his head, the reverse being a triumphal chariot drawn by four elephants, and is supposed by experts to relate to the conquest of Juba and the Mauri in Africa. Another medal, which was struck by the Emperor Trajan ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 11), in honor of Julius Cæsar, represents an elephant trampling upon a serpent, probably relating to the same event.

The Emperor Augustus was voted by the senate a triumphal arch, a chariot drawn by two elephants, and a statue, for the great deeds he accomplished; all of which is recorded on a medal ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 12). After the death of Augustus, his statue was conveyed on a chariot by four elephants to the circus, after which the games commenced, this post-funereal honor being also commemorated by a medal. Caligula was also thus honored by the senate; and a medal ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 13) pictures him sitting upon the chariot, as a god surrounded by stars. Nero and his mother, Agrippina, are represented ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 14) in a somewhat similar position.

The inventive genius of Severus in suggesting new pleasures was commemorated in a medal ([Plate XXI.], Fig. 15) which represents numerous animals, including the elephant, about a ship which, loaded with ferocious animals, he sailed on a small lake for the diversion of his favorites.

One of the finest elephant medals extant represents the statue of Pertinax drawn by four elephants in a triumphal chariot after his death ([Plate XXII.], Fig. 16); and these are but a few that are to be found in collections in various parts of the world, but show that the elephant took an important part in all the deeds of the great men of the time.