Gott Vishnu rettet einen Elefanten (1. Hälfte 20. Jh.), Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 DE)
Gott Vishnu rettet einen Elefanten (1. Hälfte 20. Jh.), Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Elephants – of historical gaps, fabulous creatures and a successful rhinoceros

26.10.2020 Wiebke Hauschildt (Online Editor)

Grey dotted, with a pipe as trunk, bat ears and thin legs, the grim looking medieval elephant nevertheless radiates strength and power, there is an entire castle on its back. One does not want to imagine how big an elephant would actually have had to be to carry such a structure. But what the illustration and many similar illustrations from the Middle Ages show is that there was a historical gap. More specifically, there was a time when almost no one in Europe knew exactly what elephants looked like.

Megenberg's depiction of the elephant in his "Book of Nature": "The Elephant" (around 1442-1448), Conradus de Megenberg, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg (Heidelberg University Library) (Public Domain Mark 1.0)
Megenberg's depiction of the elephant in his "Book of Nature": "The Elephant" (around 1442-1448), Conradus de Megenberg, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg (Heidelberg University Library)

In 1350, the canon of Regensburg, Konrad von Megenberg, publishes the encyclopedia "The Book of Nature". He has gone down in history as the one who wrote the first important scientific treatise in German. This rather systematic natural history was, however, more of a translation than a research achievement. For the most part, Megenberg had translated the work "Liber de natura rerum" by Thomas von Cantimprés and added a few observations to rainbows and raven mothers.
Von Cantimprés, on the other hand, had published his book, which was considered a standard work of natural history in the Middle Ages, around 1241, and in turn had used Aristotle and Pliny the Elder as models. Now it is not about who has copied or translated whom – the illustrations from Megenberg's work are of importance here. Very probably signed off at Cantimprés, they show animals whose appearance suggests that neither of the two gentlemen has ever seen these animals in nature. How did such illustrations and the historical gap mentioned at the beginning come about?

 

When Europeans knew what elephants looked like

The time before the historical gap goes back far into the human beginnings in Europe. It began in the Ice Ages, when mammoths, the predecessors of elephants, still existed and populated large parts of the northern hemisphere.
While Konrad von Megenberg knows from his old sources that the elephant "lives monogamously, that he is in constant battle with the dragon, that he is guided by the state of the stars and that burned ivory is an effective antidote against poison and snake bites", the people of the Old and Middle Palaeolithic (2.5 million to 40,000 years ago) were somewhat better informed. They knew the animal from reality, and for them mammoth was an important part of their own survival: as a raw material resource for food as well as for the production of tools or artifacts.

 

 

This unknown painter seems to be somewhat challenged by the proportions of the elephant: "Painting with two people and one elephant" Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (National Archive Baden-Württemberg), Abt. Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe (General State Archive Karlsruhe), 498-1 Glass Negative Wilhelm Kratt (1869-1949) - Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (State Office for the Preservation of Monuments), Branch Office Karlsruhe (CC BY 3.0 Germany)
This unknown painter seems to be somewhat challenged by the proportions of the elephant: "Painting with two people and one elephant" Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (National Archive Baden-Württemberg), Abt. Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe (General State Archive Karlsruhe), 498-1 Glass Negative Wilhelm Kratt (1869-1949) - Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (State Office for the Preservation of Monuments), Branch Office Karlsruhe

The relationship between elephants and humans became even closer in the early Palaeolithic (40,000 to 10,000 years ago). The indications of active hunting grow stronger, there are 30,000-year-old art objects from the ivory of the tusks and in cave art, mammoths were among the most common of all portrayed animals with a six percent share. Until they become extinct.

The exact reasons for the extinction are still the cause of scientific debates – between climate change, increased hunting by humans and a decrease in fertility, they are attributed to the quaternary extinction wave (about 11,700 years ago). Other elephant species populated the whole of Africa, the southern Mediterranean and Asia 4,000 years ago. The points of contact with elephants for the Central and Northern Europeans, on the other hand, thinned out. One of the most famous of these encounters to this day is Hannibal and the crossing of the Alps with its 37 war elephants.

 

Alexander the Great, Hannibal and the end of the Western Roman Empire

While in India elephants had long been used as tamed work-horses, both in civil society and in war, the Hellenistic world was no longer familiar with the animals. However, they only become aware of this when the animals are at war with them. Most likely, in the Battle of Gaugamela in October 331 BC, Alexander the Great and his Macedonian troops encountered the fifteen war elephants of the Persian opposite side.

Although the animals are ultimately not decisive for the battle, they give Alexander the Great an idea and he promptly integrates them into his army. Knowledge of this new weapon is spreading rapidly in the military circles of that time.

"Thotsakan on his war elephant. Attitude: Threatening gesture to initiate the fight. Elephant without tusks, i.e. already last bid." Shadow disc, Thailand, early 20th Century, Ethnological Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums of Berlin)(CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Germany)
"Thotsakan on his war elephant. Attitude: Threatening gesture to initiate the fight. Elephant without tusks, i.e. already last bid." Shadow disc, Thailand, early 20th Century, Ethnological Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums of Berlin)

After Alexander's sudden death and the wars over his succession or the division of his empire (Diadochi Wars), there are finally 480 war elephants who change the course of the ancient world: In the decisive battle in 301 near Ipsos in Asia Minor, the Diadochs lose Antigonos I and his son Demetrios, who wants to preserve the empire of Alexander as a whole. The other side, an alliance of different generals, among them Seleucus, closes a gap in the battlefield with its 480 war elephants, so that the army is separated from Antigonos and Demetrios. The elephantous blockade is no longer overcome and the battle is decided. The Hellenic Empire is disintegrating and the new centres of political power lie in Egypt, Macedonia and Syria.

Here, too, there is a concrete suspicion that the draughtsman never saw the animals, but still wanted to paint Hannibal's elephants: "Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes — Hannibal, Folio 182verso", book painting (1458), Jean Fouquet, Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (German documentation centre for art history - Picture archive of Marburg) ( Free access - no reuse)
Here, too, there is a concrete suspicion that the draughtsman never saw the animals, but still wanted to paint Hannibal's elephants: "Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes — Hannibal, Folio 182verso", book painting (1458), Jean Fouquet, Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (German documentation centre for art history - Picture archive of Marburg)

Not decisive for the war, but spectacular is the campaign of the Carthaginian Hannibal against the Roman Empire in 218 BC during the Second Punic War. Since war elephants are evidently always a surprise over the centuries, General Hannibal crosses the Alps with 37 elephants to fight against the Romans (including 8,000 horsemen and 38,000 foot soldiers). It is believed that not only the southern Gauls, whom he passes by on his journey from Spain to Italy, are a little surprised by the 37 pachyderms.

All of the elephants survive the stressful crossing of the Alps, but unfortunately not the northern Italian winter. At the beginning of 217 BC, only one of the war elephants is still in service and alive. Ultimately, the Romans win over the Carthaginians and the Roman Empire has survived for another 700 years, while the Carthaginian goes down. Only with the fall of the Western Roman Empire (ca. 500 AD) does the knowledge of the elephants disappear from Europe.

The historical gap and the return of knowledge

Only five hundred years later, the elephant has become a mythical creature in Europe. The scholars who make pictures of the animals rely on stories and reports from earlier times and on their imagination. Hannibal and Alexander the Great are well-known names, and the legendary animals with whose help the two generals have won many battles are well known to the scholars. But the notions of size and appearance differ greatly. The key features trunk, ears and tusks are mostly present in the illustrations, but vary greatly. There seems to be general agreement on the remaining physique and colour, as the following examples show.

 

However, knowledge and elephants return: with the advent of colonialism in the early modern period, animals find their way into the menageries of the European royal and aristocratic houses. They are also popular as diplomatic gifts: King Manuel I of Portugal, for example, gives Pope Leo X an elephant for his election in 1513, which delights the Pope, but unfortunately he does not survive long. After three years in the Vatican, the elephant is given a gold-enriched laxative against constipation, which has probably favoured its death. Hanno – the name of the papal animal – remains unforgettable, however, since Raphael has made several portraits and a life-size fresco for the Vatican Palace (unfortunately not preserved anymore).

Those elephants that do not end up in menageries during this time, go on a tour as animal attractions. In the transition from the 18th to the 19th century, public zoos replaced the mostly private menageries in Europe, and the largest terrestrial animal of our time now inspires visitors in enclosures. Overall, the encounter with humans is a tragic event for the elephant population. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were supposed to have been several million elephants, but today there are only about 350,000 animals on the African continent.

Raphael knew what he was doing: “The Elephant Hanno”, draughtsman: Raphael (after 1516), Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Germany)
Raphael knew what he was doing: “The Elephant Hanno”, draughtsman: Raphael (after 1516), Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Finally: elephants, rhinos and Dürer

Even if the fascination is not based on reciprocity, the interest of Europeans in elephants was and still is undisturbed. The previously mentioned Portuguese King Manuel I receives a rhinoceros in 1515, two years after he gave his elephant to the Pope. The king is driven by curiosity, and he stages a duel between an elephant and said rhinoceros in order to verify a thesis of Pliny the Elder: Pliny had claimed that the rhinoceros was the “born enemy” of the elephant and superior in battle. The thesis could not be fully verified: the completely panicked elephant escapes from the cheering crowds and leaves the rhinoceros to win without a fight. Which is then to be given to the Pope, however, it sinks along with the boat during the voyage. News of the rhinoceros, however, penetrates to Albrecht Dürer, who then produces his famous woodcut. In contrast to his artist colleagues a few centuries earlier, however, he was almost perfect – although he too had never seen the animal.

 

"Rhinoceros (Rhinocerus)" (1515), Albrecht Dürer, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International)
"Rhinoceros (Rhinocerus)" (1515), Albrecht Dürer, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Elephants in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

Cover: "Gott Vishnu rettet einen Elefanten (Gott Vishnu saves an elephant)" (India, 1. half of the 20th century), photo: Wibke Lobo, Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Germany)

Quellen

Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elefanten

Spiegel https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/elefanten-haben-keine-angst-vor-maeusen-sondern-vor-bienen-a-1219806.html (German)

NZZ https://www.nzz.ch/international/aufgefallen/tierische-staatsgeschenke-ein-elefant-im-vatikan-ld.109519 (German)

Welt https://www.welt.de/geschichte/article163180862/480-Kriegselefanten-veraenderten-die-antike-Welt.html (German)

Uni Jena http://www.zoo.uni-jena.de/tl_files/sonderausstellung/marina/katalog_marina.pdf (German)

Welt https://www.welt.de/geschichte/article141184672/Als-das-Nashorn-den-Elefanten-in-Lissabon-besiegte.html (German)

Ze.tt https://ze.tt/elefanten-im-mittelalter-wie-malt-man-ein-tier-das-man-zuvor-noch-nie-gesehen-hat/ (German)

Mittelalter Lexikon https://www.mittelalter-lexikon.de/wiki/Elefant (German)

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_elephant

Schweizer Illustrierte https://www.schweizer-illustrierte.ch/family/familientreff/bin-ich-wirklich-eine-rabenmutter (German)

Süddeutsche https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/monster-meermoench-fabelwesen-1.4918873 (German)

Uni Regensburg https://www.uni-regensburg.de/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=7812&token=5f117a2a165df850fd78c9aef58b061911fb84c9 (German)

Wikipedia https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Buch_der_Natur (German)

Geo https://www.geo.de/geolino/mensch/18154-rtkl-rom-hannibal-der-mann-der-beinahe-rom-besiegte (German)

Welt https://www.welt.de/geschichte/article178916540/Alpenuebergang-Mit-diesem-Geniestreich-schockierte-Hannibal-die-Roemer.html (German)

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