| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
elephants not used until Kushite military
[1]
[1]: (http://www.afropedea.org/kush#TOC-Military) |
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|
Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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Not native to Americas.
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Elephant not local, their remains not mentioned in descriptions of relevant archaeological contexts.
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Elephant not local, their remains not mentioned in descriptions of relevant archaeological contexts.
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-
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-
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|
Non-expert reference suggesting that elephants were not used until Kushite military - this needs to be confirmed.
|
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|
Inferred from the absence of elephants in previous polities in Cuzco.
|
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|
Not mentioned in the literature.
|
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|
Not discussed in consulted literature RA.
|
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|
Not mentioned in the literature.
|
||||||
|
No elephants in Hawaii at this time.
|
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|
According to Pliny the Elder, the Satavahana army, in the early first millennium CE, included 1,000 elephants.
[1]
Buddhist texts suggest "Indians had become skilled in taming and training elephants" by the early first millennium BCE."
[2]
Potent force by the fourth century BCE.
[2]
[1]: U. Singh, A History of Ancient and Medieval India (2008), p. 382 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 165) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
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-
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-
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No evidence for use in warfare yet, so I changed the code from unknown to absent
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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Animal not present in region.
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Animal not present in region.
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|
"The fauna of the greater Indus region included the Indian elephant (Elephas maximus). Ivory, which probably came mainly from the elephant, was extensively used by the Harappans: At Mohenjo-daro it was more common than bone as a material for making artifacts. Elephant bones have been recovered from a number of sites throughout the Indus region, from Lothal and Surkotada in Gujarat, to Mohenjo-daro and Chanhu-daro in Sindh, and to Harappa and Kalibangan in the east; although elephants could have been hunted for their meat, these bones may suggest that tame elephants were employed as work animals, to haul logs, for example. Further suggestive evidence of tame elephants comes from representations on seals of elephants apparently wearing a cloth over their back, and a clay model of elephant’s head with painted designs on its forehead: Elephants are similarly decorated with paint on festive days in modern South Asia."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2008, 131) Jane McIntosh. 2008. The Ancient Indus Valley. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. |
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|
The closest reference to elephants currently found are to soldiers who rode on elephants in military parades in the Ayyubid Sultanate.
[1]
No data for Seljuks, Fatimids or Abbasids. Highly likely to be absent on the basis alone that there were no elephants native to the region.
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 65-69 and in Raymond 2000, 38) |
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|
Animal not present in region.
|
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|
Inferred from the absence of elephants in previous and subsequent polities in the Yemeni Coastal Plain.
|
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|
Animal not present in region.
|
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|
Not native to region.
|
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Not native to region.
|
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|
descriptions of raids make no mention of animals accompanying warriors
|
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|
-
|
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|
elephants not used until Kushite military
[1]
[1]: (http://www.afropedea.org/kush#TOC-Military) |
||||||
|
Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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|
Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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|
Not native to region.
|
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|
Not native to region.
|
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|
Not mentioned in the literature.
|
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|
Absent in previous and subsequent periods.
|
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|
Not mentioned in the literature.
|
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|
Not discussed in consulted literature RA.
|
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|
Not discussed in consulted literature RA.
|
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|
Not mentioned in the literature.
|
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Not mentioned in the literature RA.
|
||||||
|
The sources establish no connection between domesticated animals and warfare logistics.
|
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|
No elephants in Hawaii at this time.
|
||||||
|
No elephants in Hawaii at this time.
|
||||||
|
No evidence for use in warfare yet
|
||||||
|
Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
||||||
|
"The fauna of the greater Indus region included the Indian elephant (Elephas maximus). Ivory, which probably came mainly from the elephant, was extensively used by the Harappans: At Mohenjo-daro it was more common than bone as a material for making artifacts. Elephant bones have been recov- ered from a number of sites throughout the Indus region, from Lothal and Surkotada in Gujarat, to Mohenjo-daro and Chanhu-daro in Sindh, and to Harappa and Kalibangan in the east; although elephants could have been hunted for their meat, these bones may suggest that tame elephants were employed as work animals, to haul logs, for example. Further suggestive evidence of tame elephants comes from representations on seals of elephants apparently wearing a cloth over their back, and a clay model of elephant’s head with painted designs on its forehead: Elephants are similarly decorated with paint on festive days in modern South Asia."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2008, 131) |
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-
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-
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|
-
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|
Not native to this region.
|
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
|
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Not native to region.
|
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Not native to region.
|
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|
highly unlikely to have existed in Orkhon Valley, let alone used for war
|
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Highly unlikely to have existed in Orkhon Valley, let alone used for war.
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Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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-
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-
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-
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Not mentioned by sources.
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Not mentioned by sources.
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Not mentioned by sources.
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|
Not mentioned by sources.
|
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|
Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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|
Not in military use until much later
|
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Not used for military purposes until much later
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
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|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
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|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
|
||||||
|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
Not available.
|
||||||
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-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
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-
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-
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-
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I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful. And elephants are not native to Japan or its neighbouring regions.
|
||||||
|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
||||||
|
I could find no evidence of elephants - but no sources saying that they were not used either (although I think this is a very safe bet)
|
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Not in military use until much later
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Not native to region.
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||||||
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-
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|
Highly unlikely to have existed in Orkhon Valley, let alone used for war
|
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Highly unlikely to have existed in Orkhon Valley, let alone used for war.
|
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Not native to region.
|
||||||
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
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Not native to region.
|
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Some of the sources mentioned horses, but not any other animals used in warfare. Elephants are extremely unlikely to have been in use
|
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Some of the sources mentioned horses, but not any other animals used in warfare. Elephants are extremely unlikely to have been in use
|
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-
|
||||||
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Not used for military purposes until much later
|
||||||
|
Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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No evidence for use in warfare yet
|
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Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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Technology not found in archaeological evidence until much later
|
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|
Donkey was domesticated first. "In Iraq and Syria domesticated donkey appeared during the Late Uruk period (ca. 3600-3100 BCE) at Uruk (Boessneck et al., p. 166), Tell Rubeidheh (Payne, pp. 99-100), and Habuba Kabira (Strommenger and Bollweg, pp. 354-55)".
[1]
[1]: (Potts 2012) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DWHJQHHJ. |
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|
"In Iraq and Syria domesticated donkey appeared during the Late Uruk period (ca. 3600-3100 BCE) at Uruk (Boessneck et al., p. 166), Tell Rubeidheh (Payne, pp. 99-100), and Habuba Kabira (Strommenger and Bollweg, pp. 354-55)".
[1]
[1]: (Potts 2012) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DWHJQHHJ. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"In Iraq and Syria domesticated donkey appeared during the Late Uruk period (ca. 3600-3100 BCE) at Uruk (Boessneck et al., p. 166), Tell Rubeidheh (Payne, pp. 99-100), and Habuba Kabira (Strommenger and Bollweg, pp. 354-55)".
[1]
[1]: (Potts 2012) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DWHJQHHJ. |
||||||
|
In the 9th century BCE king Stabrobates of India invaded Assyria with war elephants. Assyria did not have any. Queen Semiramis dressed camels in elephant costumes to confuse enemy elephants but it didn’t work.
[1]
[1]: (Mayor 2014, 289-290) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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|
-
|
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|
-
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||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
The Parthian did not use war elephants and the Elymaens would not have been able to source them. The Seleucids had some Indian elephants but they were received as a gift.
|
||||||
|
According to Pliny the Elder, the Satavahana army, in the early first millennium CE, included 1,000 elephants.
[1]
Buddhist texts suggest "Indians had become skilled in taming and training elephants" by the early first millennium BCE."
[2]
Potent force by the fourth century BCE.
[2]
[1]: U. Singh, A History of Ancient and Medieval India (2008), p. 382 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 165) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
"Dogs and pigs were the domesticated animals."
[1]
[1]: (Liu and Chen 2012: 144, 107) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DE5TU7HY. |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
descriptions of raids make no mention of animals accompanying warriors
|
||||||
|
"As these campaigns placed a premium upon careful logistical preparations, Victorian commanders and their staffs became adept at calculating their supply, transport, and support arrangements. They repeatedly had to cope with difficulties of transportation, especially the variable quality of animals procured and the poor standards of animal husbandry in the field. They often had to procure vast numbers of animals (in Zululand, Lord Chelmsford ultimately employed 27,000 oxen and 5,000 mules to haul over 2,5000 vehicles), and had to adapt their transport to local circumstances. They employed bullock carts, elephants, and camels in India, waggons drawn by oxen and mules in southern Africa, bearers in west Africa, boats in Perak, and pack-animals in mountains and across roadless country."
[1]
Rifled-breech loaders "were soon transferred to elephants ... to form an improvised, and the first RA mountain battery".
[2]
[1]: (Spiers 1996, 198) Edward Spiers. The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914. David G Chandler. Ian Beckett. eds. 1996. The Oxford History of the British Army. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Barthorp 1988, 12) Michael Barthorp. 1988. The British Army on Campaign. 1856-1881. Osprey Publishing Ltd. |
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|
Present in previous and subsequent periods.
|
||||||
|
"The fighting force was divided into infantry, cavalry and the elephant corps."
[1]
[1]: (Majumdar and Altekar 1986, 277) Anant Sadashiv Altekar. The Administrative Organisation. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. Anant Sadashiv Altekar. 1986. Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass. Delhi. |
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|
’A turbulent three decades followed Ang Chan’s death in 1566, during which one of his successors flirted dangerously with European powers, i.e. allowing Catholic missionaries to preach, and asking the Spaniards in Manila to help him fight his Thai enemies (luckily, this did not happen). Interestingly, this ruler claimed that for the joint operation, he could field 80,000 troops, 10,000 horses, and 12,000 elephants. These figures may have been exaggerated, but even so, it appears that Cambodia was still a power in Southeast Asia.’ [Footnote from page 229]: One late sixteenth century source, Christoval de Jacque states that King Reamea Chung Prei had only 400 war elephants (Groslier 1958:154), a more likely figure.’
[1]
’Military campaings were probably conducted in the Post-Classic period as they had been during the Classic Era, but on a lesser scale: it is doubtful if any king of Lovek or Udong could muster the armies that were fielded by rulers like Suryavarman II. There was no standing army - in times of war, the patron was expected to muster a force of his clients, and place himself or an officer designated by the king at the head. The arms that they bore were substantially like those wielded by Classic warriors, with the addition of firearms and canon (after 1600). Again the principle of five ruled, as there were five corps: the vanguard, the rear guard, the right flank, the left flank, and the central corps or main body of the army, where the king kept himself with his war elephants. These animals were strengthened magically from time to time by bring sprayed with water mixed with human bile (or so say our sources); magical ideas also led the warriors to cover themselves with protective amulets. The king would be surrounded by Brahmins who conducted ritual ablutions, and by soothsayers who were consulted on the placement of military camps and for auspicious days for military operations.’
[2]
[1]: (Coe 2003, p. 210) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 219) |
||||||
|
’One more text which is relevant, and probably belongs in [H] though possibly south of it in [K]-the exact provenance is unknown-is k.155, by a technical official, dhanyakarapati, "chief of the grain stocks", and one of only eight or nine such specialized functions mentioned in the pre-Angkor corpus, [Footnote 143: There are seven inscriptions by, or referring to, such technical or administrative specialists. The others are K.133 [I], a "chief ship pilot", mahanauvaha, in K.140 [K] a "master of all elephants," or "vassal king", samantagajapati; in K.765 [T] a mahanukrtavi-khyata, "celebrated for his great following"; in K725 three such titles or names of functions, samantanauvaha, "chief of the naval forces", mahasvaptai, "great chief of horse", sahasravargadhiptai, "chief of a group of a thousand"; in K726 yuddhapramukha, military officer; and the latest in date a certain mahavikrantakesari, a name meaning "great bold lion", probably indicating a military person, who is mentioned 4 times in K1029 [R].]’
[1]
’Jayavarman I was the great-grandson of Ishanavarman. His inscriptions indicate the tightening of central power and control over a considerable area, the creation of new titles and admin- istrators, and the availability of an army, the means of defense and destruction. A text described how King Jayavarman’s commands were obeyed by “innumerable vassal kings.” Jayavarman also strengthened the legal code: “Those who levy an annual tax, those who seize carts, boats, slaves, cattle, buffaloes, those who contest the king’s orders, will be punished.” New titles were accorded highly ranked retainers who fulfilled important posts in government. One lineage held the priestly position of hotar. Another functionary was a samantagajapadi, chief of the royal elephants, and a military leader; the dhanyakarapati would have controlled the grain stores. The king also appointed officials known as a mratan and pon to a sabha, or council of state. Another inscription prescribes the quantities of salt to be distributed by barge to various foundations and prohibits any tax on the ves- sels going up- or downriver. Thus Jayavarman I intensi- fied royal control over dependent fiefs begun by his great-grandfather, Ishanavarman. Thereafter this dynasty loses visibility, although the king’s daughter, Jayadevi, ruled from a center in the vicinity of ANGKOR.’
[2]
’Their contents inform us on two vital issues. The first is the use of official titles, such as President of the Royal Court, which was located at a centre called Purandarapura. Another prescribed punishment for those who disobey a royal order. Two brothers of high social standing were appointed to a variety of posts: officer of the royal guard, chief of rowers, military chief, and governor of Dhruvapura. Another highly-ranked courtier became chief of elephants, reminding us of the traditional role of elephants in warfare. A further text mentions a chief of the royal grain store. These high officials were rewarded with honorific symbols, such as a parasol embellished with gold. The trends already evident under Ishanavarman were greatly strengthened under his great grandson: with Jayavarman I, we can identify the establishment of a state. It was, however, ephemeral. Only one inscription of his daughter Jayadevi survives. Thereafter, the dynasty disappears from the historic record.’
[3]
[1]: (Vickery 1998, 125) [2]: (Higham 2004, 75) [3]: (Higham 2014b, 294) |
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|
According to this source, for which we require expert confirmation: "Kushite military also fought with elephants. They were probably the first to use elephants in warfare in the ancient world. They trained war elephants for export to Egypt."
[1]
[1]: (http://www.afropedea.org/kush#TOC-Military) |
||||||
|
According to Andre Wink, Indian armies used frontal attacks lead by war elephants. The Ghurids used the attack-retreat tactics of Central Asian nomadic cavalry archers.
[1]
However, did the Ghurids also use war elephants, such as once established? Inferred that they did. The Ghaznavids, another Turkish-Islamic dynasty in Central Asia 977-1186 CE, used elephants and camels.
[2]
[1]: (Asher and Talbot 2006, 28) Catherine B Asher. Cynthia Talbot. 2006. India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Bloom and Blair eds. 2009, 108) Johnathan M Bloom. Sheila S Blair. eds. 2009. Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set. Volume I. Abarquh To Dawlat Qatar. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
The area they occupied was the natural habitat of the Indian Elephant, and supplied other areas with the animal.
|
||||||
|
The inclusion of elephant riders among the vanguards are alluded to on some coins and in the Tsa pao-tsang ching.
[1]
Native Indian auxiliaries using elephants are also reported to have been in use. The elephants seem to have been used as an advance screen for the main force as well as shock troops.
[2]
"The Weilue describes how the population of eastern India ’ride elephants and camels into battle, but currently they provide military service and taxes to the Yuezhi [Kushans]’."
[3]
[1]: B. N. Mukherjee, ’The Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire’ (Calcutta, 1988), p. 330 [2]: The armies of Bactria 70 BC-450 AD, Montvert, 1997, pp. 57-57 [3]: (McLaughlin 2016, 80) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley. |
||||||
|
Two elephants found buried at Xibeigang.
[1]
60 ivory elephant tusks found at Sanxingdui.
[2]
. Used in warfare, as pack animals.
[3]
[1]: (Bagley 1999, 193) Bagley, Robert. 1999. "Shang Archaeology." eds. Loewe, Michael and Edward Shaughnessy. The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 124-136. [2]: (Bavarian 2005) Bavarian, Behzad. July 2005. Unearthing Technology’s Influence on the Ancient Chinese Dynasties through Metallurgical Investigations, California State University. Northridge. http://library.csun.edu/docs/bavarian.pdf [3]: (North China Conference 2016) |
||||||
|
African elephants (forest type) at Raphia (Ptolemy IV).
[1]
African forest Elephants. A few Indian elephants might have been used and bred in captivity. "Ptolemy II’s elephants came from southern Sudan, where he founded Ptolemais of the Huns in 270/69 BCE, and later from the Rd Sea area, where he founded other settlements (Philotera, Arsinoe and Berenice Troglodytica) Ptolemy III had to go further south along the Somalian coast, and the last hunts were organized toward the end of Ptolemy IV’s rule."
[2]
Follow-up reference: J G. Manning on Elephant hunting (i.e. supply of army).
[3]
[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 395) [2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 153) [3]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication) |
||||||
|
African elephants (forest type) at Raphia (Ptolemy IV).
[1]
African forest Elephants. A few Indian elephants might have been used and bred in captivity. "Ptolemy II’s elephants came from southern Sudan, where he founded Ptolemais of the Huns in 270/69 BCE, and later from the Rd Sea area, where he founded other settlements (Philotera, Arsinoe and Berenice Troglodytica) Ptolemy III had to go further south along the Somalian coast, and the last hunts were organized toward the end of Ptolemy IV’s rule."
[2]
Follow-up reference: J G. Manning on Elephant hunting (i.e. supply of army).
[3]
[1]: (Lloyd 2000, 395) [2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 153) [3]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication) |
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|
"On a pillar of the Amravati Tope, 300 years later than that at Sanchi, is portrayed the scene thus described. ... part of the army is seen defending the walls of the citadel, and armed with straight and scythed-shaped swords, long spears, and long bows. In front the infantry is advancing, and the rear is brought up by horsemen and elephants. There are no chariots at Sanchi, but this is probably owing to some local peculiarity."
[1]
300 years later than the Bhilsa Tope monuments so possibly referring to 200 CE.
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 13) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. |
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|
[1]
"The Chalukyan army no doubt consisted of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants, besides the naval unit."
[2]
"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[3]
[1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 75 [2]: (Dikshit 1980, 263) Durga Prasad Dikshit. 1980. Political History of the Chalukyas of Badami. Abhinav Publications. New Delhi. [3]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
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|
There was an officer in charge of cavalry and elephants, the kari-turaga (patta-)sahini.
[1]
"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[2]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times."
[3]
[1]: K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, The Chalukyas of Kalyani, in G. Yazdan (ed), The Early History of the Deccan (1960), p. 391 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. [3]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
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|
War elephants.
[1]
Present "despite the enormous logistic requirements."
[2]
[1]: (Wilcox 1986, Plate E) Wilcox, P. 1986. Rome’s Enemies (3): Parthians and Sassanid Persians. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Ward 2014, 31) Ward, S R. 2014. Immortal, Updated Edition: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. |
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|
According to Pliny the Elder, the Satavahana army, in the early first millennium CE, included 1,000 elephants.
[1]
Buddhist texts suggest "Indians had become skilled in taming and training elephants" by the early first millennium BCE."
[2]
Potent force by the fourth century BCE.
[2]
[1]: U. Singh, A History of Ancient and Medieval India (2008), p. 382 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 165) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
According to Pliny the Elder, the Satavahana army, in the early first millennium CE, included 1,000 elephants.
[1]
Buddhist texts suggest "Indians had become skilled in taming and training elephants" by the early first millennium BCE."
[2]
Potent force by the fourth century BCE.
[2]
[1]: U. Singh, A History of Ancient and Medieval India (2008), p. 382 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 165) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
According to Pliny the Elder, the Satavahana army, in the period following this one, included 1,000 elephants.
[1]
"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[2]
1000 years earlier than the classical age would have included this period. Buddhist texts suggest "Indians had become skilled in taming and training elephants" by the early first millennium BCE."
[3]
Potent force by the fourth century BCE.
[3]
[1]: U. Singh, A History of Ancient and Medieval India (2008), p. 382 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. [3]: (Eraly 2011, 165) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
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|
Elephants were the preferred animal of war in India, partly because of a lack of success in breeding horses.
[1]
The importance of elephants is shown when, for example, in 1309 the ruler Ala-ud-din went on campaign to Southern India ’in order to seize elephants and treasures from the rulers of the south’ (as written in the chronicle Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi).
[2]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times."
[3]
[1]: Asher, C.B and Talbot, C. 2006. India before Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p28. [2]: Kulke, H., & Rothermund, D. (2010). A History of India (Revised, Updated Edition, pp. 120. [3]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
Elephants most common in Bengal, Kamrupa and Orissa and were very effective on the forested river plain.
[1]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times."
[2]
[1]: (Roy 2013, 30) Kaushik Roy. 2013 Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. London. [2]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
[1]
"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[2]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times."
[3]
[1]: H.V. Sreenivasa Murthy and R. Ramakrishnan, A History of Karnataka (1978), p. 117 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. [3]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
[1]
"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[2]
[1]: Suryanatha Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), p. 39 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
Elephants "occupied the most important place in ancient Indian military organisation; and the study of the science of elephants like that of horses formed part of princely education."
[1]
Eastern India was the homeland of elephant breeding, west and north-west for horses.
[2]
[1]: (Mishra 1977, 148) Shyam Manohar Mishra. 1977. Yaśovarman of Kanauj: A Study of Political History, Social, and Cultural Life of Northern India During the Reign of Yaśovarman. Abhinav Publications. [2]: (Mishra 1977, 149) Shyam Manohar Mishra. 1977. Yaśovarman of Kanauj: A Study of Political History, Social, and Cultural Life of Northern India During the Reign of Yaśovarman. Abhinav Publications. |
||||||
|
The later Vedic texts write about the occupations of people and mention that, "Chariots (rathas) were used for war and sport, and people rode on horses and elephants."
[1]
[1]: R. S. Sharma, Material Background of Vedic Warfare, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Dec., 1966),pp. 302-307. |
||||||
|
According to a military historian (this needs confirmation from a Mauryan specialist) elephants were used as shock troops.
[1]
Kautilya in the Arthashastra wrote: "The victory of kings (in battles) depends mainly upon elephants; for elephants, being of large bodily frame, are capable not only to destroy the arrayed army of an enemy, his fortifications, and encampments, but also to undertake works that are dangerous to life."
[2]
[1]: Gabriel, Richard A. The great armies of antiquity. p. 218-220 [2]: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Arthashastra/ |
||||||
|
As well as horse-cavalry, elephants also used.
[1]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times."
[2]
[1]: J.J.L. Gommans, Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire 1500 1700. London: Routledge, 2002, p.158. [2]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
"Next to the infantry, cavalry and elephants occupy the place of pride in the military organization".
[1]
"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[2]
However, elephants were a less significant force for the Rashtrakuta army which "consisted mainly of infantry, for, as Al Masudi noted, ’the seat of this government was among the mountains,’ and it was impossible to deploy cavalry, elephants or chariots there.’
[2]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times."
[3]
[1]: N.S. Ramachandra Murthy, Military Administration of the Rashtrakutas in the Telugu Country, in B.R. Gopal, The Rashtrakutas of Malkhed (1994), p. 116 [2]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. [3]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
||||||
|
According to one military historian (this data needs to be confirmed by a polity specialist): "Indian armies of this period had within them a basic unit called the patti, a mixed platoon comprised of one elephant carrying three archers, or spearman and a mahout, three horse cavalymen armed with javelins, round buckler, and spear, and five infantry soldiers armed with shield and broad sword or bow."
[1]
Inferred from continuity with Mauryan polity .
[2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 218) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies Of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [2]: (Roy 2016, 19) Kaushik Roy. 2016. Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. Abingdon. |
||||||
|
According to one military historian (data needs to be checked by an expert for this polity) "After conquests in India, the Persians introduced elephants into their armies."
[1]
With this reference we can date the code of present more precisely. Darius III of Persia had a few war elephants.
[2]
Indian war elephants at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE.
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 162) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [2]: (Mayor 2014, 290) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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|
"The Christians of the Sasanian Empire were also persecuted when the city of Susa, which was the hotbed of Christian activity, was razed by the elephants of The Sasanian army.
[1]
According to Ammianus Marcellinus (XXIII, 6.75-80) "All of them without exception, even at banquets and on festal days, appear girt with swords; an old Greek custom".
[2]
Present "despite the enormous logistic requirements."
[3]
[1]: (Daryaee 2012, 193) Daryaee, Touraj. The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). in Daryaee, Touraj. ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Nikitin 1996, 59) Nikitin, A. V. Customs, Arts and Crafts. in Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.59-80. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [3]: (Ward 2014, 31) Ward, S R. 2014. Immortal, Updated Edition: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. |
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|
Seleucus I received 500 elephants in a peace-treaty exchange in 303 BCE with Chandragupta, the founder of the Mauryan empire.
[1]
Seleucids and Ptolemies "made heavy use of war elephants."
[2]
Seleucid had Indian elephants, Ptolemies had North African elephants.
[2]
[1]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Financial Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p20 [2]: (Mayor 2014, 291) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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|
’Armies did not consist of permanent standing armies but were raised ad hoc for particular campaigns by the great men of their provinces, who were responsible for supplying troops for royal service. Often enough, huge armies could be raised this way; Chau Ju-kua claims that the Khmers in his time had 200,000 elephants and many horses (albeit small ones). It is difficult to trust such figures. No doubt there could be enormous hordes of cheaply maintained foot soldiers - Chou Ta-kuan says that there had been universal conscription for a recent exhausting war against the Siamese - though the levies might be ill-trained and poorly equipped. Chou tells us that the Khmer soldiers were unclothed and barefoot; they lacked discipline and were poorly led’.
[1]
’The ordinary Khmer soldiers as well as officers might carry a lance; or a bow, with the arrows being held in a quiver; or sabres of different length; or various sizes of knives and daggers; or a kind of halberd known as a phka’h. The latter was basically an iron axe mounted on a long handle curved at one end. At Angkor Wat, the phka’k is held in the hands of high-ranking warriors mounted on elephants or horses; it is still in use in the twentieth century for hunting or work in the forest. Crossbows were known, but are extremely rare in the reliefs.’
[2]
’The elephant was harnessed very simply, to judge by the few models found in the outer gallery of the Bayon (Fig. 17). It has a breast strap, a saddle girth, and a crupper of a special type, these three ropes being interlinked. To these should be added a headpiece and small bell around the back, attached to the breast strap.’
[3]
’The elephant was most clearly recorded during the Khmer empire dating from roughly 809 C.E. to 1431 C.E. During this time, the great temple of Angkor Wat and the Bayon were built.The frequent wars against theThais and Chams involved use of large “tuskers,” or superior male elephants, as well as elephants that carried men and goods. Elephants were important in moving the stones that built the temples, the logs that built the palaces, and the rice and other foods produced by the popu- lace to feed the royalty and the priests.The war elephants are wonderfully illustrated in the reliefs on the gallery walls of Angkor Wat. Similarly, many elephants are found among the carvings on the walls of Borobudur, the great Javanese Hindu-Buddhist temple dating to about 800 C.E.’
[4]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.156) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 185) [3]: (Jacq-Hergoualc’h and Smithies 2007, p. 27) [4]: (Griffin 2004, p. 486) |
||||||
|
’Armies did not consist of permanent standing armies but were raised ad hoc for particular campaigns by the great men of their provinces, who were responsible for supplying troops for royal service. Often enough, huge armies could be raised this way; Chau Ju-kua claims that the Khmers in his time had 200,000 elephants and many horses (albeit small ones). It is difficult to trust such figures. No doubt there could be enormous hordes of cheaply maintained foot soldiers - Chou Ta-kuan says that there had been universal conscription for a recent exhausting war against the Siamese - though the levies might be ill-trained and poorly equipped. Chou tells us that the Khmer soldiers were unclothed and barefoot; they lacked discipline and were poorly led’.
[1]
’The ordinary Khmer soldiers as well as officers might carry a lance; or a bow, with the arrows being held in a quiver; or sabres of different length; or various sizes of knives and daggers; or a kind of halberd known as a phka’h. The latter was basically an iron axe mounted on a long handle curved at one end. At Angkor Wat, the phka’k is held in the hands of high-ranking warriors mounted on elephants or horses; it is still in use in the twentieth century for hunting or work in the forest. Crossbows were known, but are extremely rare in the reliefs.’
[2]
’The elephant was harnessed very simply, to judge by the few models found in the outer gallery of the Bayon (Fig. 17). It has a breast strap, a saddle girth, and a crupper of a special type, these three ropes being interlinked. To these should be added a headpiece and small bell around the back, attached to the breast strap.’
[3]
’The elephant was most clearly recorded during the Khmer empire dating from roughly 809 C.E. to 1431 C.E. During this time, the great temple of Angkor Wat and the Bayon were built.The frequent wars against theThais and Chams involved use of large “tuskers,” or superior male elephants, as well as elephants that carried men and goods. Elephants were important in moving the stones that built the temples, the logs that built the palaces, and the rice and other foods produced by the popu- lace to feed the royalty and the priests.The war elephants are wonderfully illustrated in the reliefs on the gallery walls of Angkor Wat. Similarly, many elephants are found among the carvings on the walls of Borobudur, the great Javanese Hindu-Buddhist temple dating to about 800 C.E.’
[4]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.156) [2]: (Coe 2003, p. 185) [3]: (Jacq-Hergoualc’h and Smithies 2007, p. 27) [4]: (Griffin 2004, p. 486) |
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|
’Military campaigns were probably conducted in the Post-Classic period as they had been during the Classic Era, but on a lesser scale: it is doubtful if any king of Lovek or Udong could muster the armies that were fielded by rulers like Suryavarman II. There was no standing army - in times of war, the patron was expected to muster a force of his clients, and place himself or an officer designated by the king at the head. The arms that they bore were substantially like those wielded by Classic warriors, with the addition of firearms and canon (after 1600). Again the principle of five ruled, as there were five corps: the vanguard, the rear guard, the right flank, the left flank, and the central corps or main body of the army, where the king kept himself with his war elephants. These animals were strengthened magically from time to time by bring sprayed with water mixed with human bile (or so say our sources); magical ideas also led the warriors to cover themselves with protective amulets. The king would be surrounded by Brahmins who conducted ritual ablutions, and by soothsayers who were consulted on the placement of military camps and for auspicious days for military operations.’
[1]
[1]: (Coe 2003, p. 219) |
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|
There is a reference in the Chinese text to tame elephants being brought from Funan.
[1]
Later accounts mention "chief of king’s elephant" as a duty for slaves.
[2]
This shows that the Funanese were using elephants as early as the 4th century CE, since elephants were known to be used in warfare and transport in the Angkoria period, we could assume that the practice started in Funan
[1]: (Vickery 2003, p. 112) [2]: (Jacob 1979, p. 418) |
||||||
|
There is a reference in the Chinese text to tame elephants being brought from Funan.
[1]
Later accounts mention "chief of king’s elephant" as a duty for slaves.
[2]
This shows that the Funanese were using elephants as early as the 4th century CE, since elephants were known to be used in warfare and transport in the Angkoria period, we could assume that the practice started in Funan
[1]: (Vickery 2003, p. 112) [2]: (Jacob 1979, p. 418) |
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|
First century BCE historian Diodorus Siculus narrates a battle between a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) and an Indian polity in which the Indians used elephants.
[1]
In the 9th century BCE king Stabrobates of India used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?).
[2]
Elephants used in warfare in India since at least 1000 BCE.
[3]
If "the first archaeologically recognizable, large post-Indus urban settlements are not earlier than the fifth century BC ... solidly visible states ... appear in a sudden profusion in the late first millennium B.C."
[4]
- who was king Stabrobates of India who used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) in the 9th century BCE?
[2]
One could infer king Stabrobates, if not based there himself, must have subdued and controlled the Kachi Plain region in order to invade Mesopotamia from ’India’. (Another source says Assyria invaded India and were driven out of Pakistan and India).
[5]
Diodorus Siculus says this too, queen Semiramis was based in Bactra (Bactria?).
[1]
If king Stabrobates’s polity controlled the Kachi Plain then we must code the according to the military technology he possessed. Note: one military historian estimates that the Assyrian army had a strategic range of 2000 km
[6]
which places the Indus region in reach of their forces.
[1]: Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Complete Works of Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Classics. [2]: (Mayor 2014, 289) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Mayor 2014, 290) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [4]: (Ahmed 2014, 64) Mukhtar Ahmed. 2014. Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History: Volume V: The End of the Harappan Civilization, and the Aftermath. Foursome Group. [5]: (Kistler 2007, 18) John M Kistler. 2007. War Elephants. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. [6]: (Gabriel 2002, 9) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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|
Ghaznavids, another Turkish-Islamic dynasty in Central Asia 977-1186 CE, used elephants and camels.
[1]
Used on Kachi plain.
[2]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times. Certainly the Arabs of Sind, the Saffarids, and the later Buyids made almost no use of them at all."
[3]
[1]: (Bloom and Blair eds. 2009, 108) Johnathan M Bloom. Sheila S Blair. eds. 2009. Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set. Volume I. Abarquh To Dawlat Qatar. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: Kennedy, the Armies of the Caliphs [3]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
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"Moreover, the villages were also impotant as the feed the elephants and the horses, which were an integral part of the military warfare machinery, used to come from them."
[1]
[1]: (Yadav 2011: 360-361) Yadav, D. 2011. ASPECTS OF RURAL SETTLEMENT UNDER THE GAHAAVALA DYNASTY: C. 11 TH CENTURY CE TO 13 TH CENTURY CE (AN INSCRIPTIONAL ANALYSIS). Proceedings of the Indian History Congress , 2011, Vol. 72, PART-I (2011), pp. 360-367. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/F8STV588/library |
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First century BCE historian Diodorus Siculus narrates a battle between a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) and an Indian polity in which the Indians used elephants.
[1]
In the 9th century BCE king Stabrobates of India used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?).
[2]
Elephants used in warfare in India since at least 1000 BCE.
[3]
If "the first archaeologically recognizable, large post-Indus urban settlements are not earlier than the fifth century BC ... solidly visible states ... appear in a sudden profusion in the late first millennium B.C."
[4]
- who was king Stabrobates of India who used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) in the 9th century BCE?
[2]
One could infer king Stabrobates, if not based there himself, must have subdued and controlled the Kachi Plain region in order to invade Mesopotamia from ’India’. (Another source says Assyria invaded India and were driven out of Pakistan and India).
[5]
Diodorus Siculus says this too, queen Semiramis was based in Bactra (Bactria?).
[1]
If king Stabrobates’s polity controlled the Kachi Plain then we must code the according to the military technology he possessed. Note: one military historian estimates that the Assyrian army had a strategic range of 2000 km
[6]
which places the Indus region in reach of their forces.
[1]: Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Complete Works of Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Classics. [2]: (Mayor 2014, 289) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Mayor 2014, 290) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [4]: (Ahmed 2014, 64) Mukhtar Ahmed. 2014. Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History: Volume V: The End of the Harappan Civilization, and the Aftermath. Foursome Group. [5]: (Kistler 2007, 18) John M Kistler. 2007. War Elephants. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. [6]: (Gabriel 2002, 9) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Used as war-elephants.
[1]
Was this reference for the Delhi Sultanate only? The Samma, like the Soomras did not seem to have had access to Elephants, but did have access to cavalry.
[2]
"But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times. Certainly the Arabs of Sind, the Saffarids, and the later Buyids made almost no use of them at all."
[3]
[1]: Digby, Simon. War-horse and Elephant in the Dehli Sultanate: A Study of Military Supplies. Oxford: Orient Monographs, 1971. [2]: Panhwar, M. H. "Chronological Dictionary of Sind, (Karachi, 1983) pp. 192-3, 196-197 [3]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
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we need expert input in order to code this variable
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Java has a native species of elephant.
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"In the classical age, Indian armies were still organized, as they had been a thousand years earlier, into four divisions: infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants."
[1]
Possible but Kampi Kingdom was a small state so question is whether they had the resources to maintain war elephants.
[1]: (Eraly 2011, 163) Abraham Eraly. 2011. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India. Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. |
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A book called ’War Elephants’ (Nossov and Nossov 2012) lists Buyids in the index. Needs checking. "But there can be little doubt that war-elephants were not used in the same numbers under the Islamic dynasties of India as they were in the early medieval period and before. We have seen that the Arabic sources described the most important ninth- and tenth-century Hindu dynasties as equipped with tens of thousands or more elephants of various kinds. Although it is unlikely that these numbers indicated war-elephants in a state of readiness - they probably included the guessed number of untamed and half-tamed ones -, and although some of the figures are contradictory, they are larger than those of later times. Certainly the Arabs of Sind, the Saffarids, and the later Buyids made almost no use of them at all."
[1]
[1]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Sources do not mention elephant remains in descriptions of relevant archaeological contexts.
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First century BCE historian Diodorus Siculus narrates a battle between a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) and an Indian polity in which the Indians used elephants.
[1]
In the 9th century BCE king Stabrobates of India used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?).
[2]
Elephants used in warfare in India since at least 1000 BCE.
[3]
If "the first archaeologically recognizable, large post-Indus urban settlements are not earlier than the fifth century BC ... solidly visible states ... appear in a sudden profusion in the late first millennium B.C."
[4]
- who was king Stabrobates of India who used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) in the 9th century BCE?
[2]
One could infer king Stabrobates, if not based there himself, must have subdued and controlled the Kachi Plain region in order to invade Mesopotamia from ’India’. (Another source says Assyria invaded India and were driven out of Pakistan and India).
[5]
Diodorus Siculus says this too, queen Semiramis was based in Bactra (Bactria?).
[1]
If king Stabrobates’s polity controlled the Kachi Plain then we must code the according to the military technology he possessed. Note: one military historian estimates that the Assyrian army had a strategic range of 2000 km
[6]
which places the Indus region in reach of their forces.
[1]: Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Complete Works of Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Classics. [2]: (Mayor 2014, 289) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Mayor 2014, 290) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [4]: (Ahmed 2014, 64) Mukhtar Ahmed. 2014. Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History: Volume V: The End of the Harappan Civilization, and the Aftermath. Foursome Group. [5]: (Kistler 2007, 18) John M Kistler. 2007. War Elephants. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. [6]: (Gabriel 2002, 9) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Sources do not mention elephant remains in descriptions of relevant archaeological contexts.
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Java has a native species of elephant.
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Imported from the Kachi plains region and used in processions and ceremony.
[1]
- but were elephants used in fighting?
[1]: (Kennedy, Hugh. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. London; New York: Routledge, 2001. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy) |
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