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The Largest of Ethiopia's Living Animals, I.

Addis Tribune (Addis Adaba)
December 20, 2002

Richard Pankhurst

The History of Elephants in Ethiopia

Today we consider the history of Ethiopia's largest living animals!

Interest in Ethiopian elephants was first generated in Egypt at the time of the Ptolemies around the third century BC - that is about two or three centuries after the establishment of the great northern Ethiopian city of Yéha, and a little over half a millennium after the time of the Biblical King Solomon.

Babylonians then ruled by the Seleucid dynasty, was then the main enemies of the Ptolemies, and were then making use of Indian elephants. These animals have aptly been termed the "tanks" of the ancient world - and were soon involved in an old-times arms race.

Rostovtzeff, the historian of the ancient world, observes that the Ptolemies "could not remain inferior in this respect". The "starting point" of Ptolemaic policy was therefore "to have their own war elephants", for, without a supply of them, their army would be "hopelessly inferior" to that of their rivals.

Ptolemy I

The first expedition of the Ptolemies in quest of elephants was apparently despatched during the reign of the first Ptolemy, Soter (305-285 BC). He entrusted it to a captain called Philos, who subsequently wrote an account of his exploits in a book entitled Aethiopika, which unfortunately has long since been lost.

Ptolemy II

The capture of elephants along the southern Red Sea coast of Africa was later organised and expanded, according to the Greek historian and geographer Agarthachides, by the second Ptolemy, Philadelphus (280-246 BC). This Ptolemy was responsible for opening the old canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, thereby facilitating Egyptian contact with the latter region.

Ethiopian elephants, from a drawing in the 6th century AD christian Topography of cosmas

The expansion of elephant-hunting at this time is mentioned by the Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily. Basing himself on Agathachides, whose original text is likewise no longer extant, he observes:

"The second Ptolemy, who was passionately fond of hunting elephants and gave great rewards to those who succeeded in capturing against odds the most valiant of these beasts, expending on this hobby great sums of money, not only collected great herds of war-elephants, but also brought to the knowledge of the Greeks other kinds of animals which had never been seen and were the objects of amazement".

This Ptolemy, according to Agarthachides, as cited by Photius, a ninth century Patriarch of Constantinople, also attempted to persuade the local (Ethiopian?) elephant-hunters to abandon the killing of elephants so that he could more easily obtain them alive. He therefore made these hunters "many beautiful promises", but he did so in vain, for the men allegedly replied that "they would not change their way of life for all his kingdom".

Despite this failure, Ptolemy II gave instructions for the construction of specially designed boats, which were called elephantegoi, or "elephant-carriers". They were designed to transport the animals from the southern Red Sea coast, and to bring back grain and other supplies for the hunters. Mention of such expeditions are referred to in many papyrus texts of the second half of the third century BC.

Elephant Parks

Elephant-hunting was so fruitful, and the animals so highly regarded, that special parks for the animals were established in Egypt, both at Thebes and Memphis.

This period also witnessed the establishment, by the Ptolemies, of a series of fortified ports along the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coasts of Africa. The modern British historian Elgood, basing himself on the Greek geographer Strabo, states that a Ptolemaic commander called Satyrus "examined the African shore, selecting anchorages, dropping garrisons, founding new stations, examining existing and surveying new ports". Oliver Thompson, another modern authority, claims that "at least fourteen officers of the second and third Ptolemies are mentioned as engaged in this service and as giving their names to capes and roadsteads all the way down [the Red Sea] and a little outside". Yet another modern historian, Crowfoot, comments: "The early Ptolemaic era reminds us curiously in many ways of the great European age of discoveries".

Permanent Military Stations

A good idea of the multitude of forts established in the area by the Ptolemies is provided by the modern author Bevan, who likewise following Strabo, observes:

"Permanent military stations appear along the Red Sea coast - Ptolemais Teron ('of the Elephants') fortified by Eumedes, near Suakin; Berenice Panchrysus 'All-golden' (Massowah); Arsinoe, near the Straits of Bab-al-Mandeb; Berenice epi Dires, just outside the Straits - and further, along the Somaliland coast, points called after the commanders who directed the elephant-hunting in the interior, and often left memorials of themselves in the shape of stele and altars -'Pythangelus' 'chase', 'Lichas' chase', 'Cape of Pitholaus', 'Leon's Watchtower', 'Pythngelus Haven'". Elephant-hunting,we may comment, was thus taking place along the entire coast bordering on what later became known as Ethiopia.

Ptolemy III

The exploitation of elephants along the southern Red Sea coast was intensified during the reign of the third Ptolemy, Eurgetes I (245-221 BC), who styled himself "master of the Mediterranean and the Sea of the Indies". Diodorus, basing himself on Agartharchides, states that this ruler was "passionately fond of hunting the elephants which are to be found in that region", and accordingly "sent one of his friends Simmias to spy out the land", after which Simmias made "a thorough investigation of the nations lying along the coast".

Adulis

One of the harbours visited by Ptolemy III was Adulis, which some two centuries or so later was to become the principal port of the Aksumite empire. This harbour was described by the Roman author Pliny as "two days' sail" beyond Ptolemais, i.e. Suakin. A Greek inscription erected at Adulis in the name of "Ptolemy, son of King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe, twin gods", states that this ruler had "made an expedition into Asia with forces of infantry and cavalry, and a fleet of elephants from the Troglodytes and Ethiopia - animals which his father and himself were the first to capture by hunting in those countries, and which they took to Egypt, where they had them trained for employment in war".

Two of the most south-easterly elephant-hunting grounds of this period were known as the Hunting-grounds of Pythangelus and Lichas. They were located, according to Strabo, in the vicinity of Deire, near the extremity of the Red Sea coast of Africa, in what is currently the Republic of Djibouti.

Ptolemy IV

Elephant-hunting continued during the reign of the fourth Ptolemy, Philipator (221-204 BC). This is evident from a Greek inscription dedicated to Ares, the Bearer of Victory in War and the Giver of Good Luck in Hunting, by a party of officers and soldiers bound for the southern Red Sea coast around 208-6 BC.

Shipping Difficulties

An idea of the difficulties which the Egyptians engaged in the southern Red Sea elephant business encountered can be obtained from a Greek letter of 224 BC. It was written from a group of elephant-hunters at Berenice (Massawa?) to their comrades at a station further south (perhaps along what is now the Eritrean coast), whose elephant-carrier had sunk on the return journey. The letter, which was written to keep up the spirits of the men in the southern station, states that a new boat was being constructed, and was almost ready - it would soon be despatched with a fresh supply of grain.

Further evidence that the transport of elephants presented major problems is also provided by Diodorus, who, once more quoting Agartharchides, states that ships carrying these large animals required considerable draft. They on occasion brought upon their crews "great and terrible dangers", for running as they did under full sail they were "oftentimes driven during the night before the force of the winds", which sometimes caused them to "strike against rocks and be wrecked or sometimes run around on slightly submerged spits".

The nearby coast, according to Diodorus, was in consequence dotted with broken Egyptian ships. They remained there "for many years, like a group of cenotaphs, embedded on every side in a heap of sand... for it is the King's command to leave in place such evidences of disasters that they may give notice to sailors of the region which works their destruction".

"Terrors"

The terrors of navigating such heavily laden vessels made a deep impression on Photius, who quotes a few additional details given by Agarthachides. He observes that the accidents suffered by the elephant transports evoked "great pity for the victims", as many boats were crushed against the rocks or stranded on the sand. Some boats thus grounded had been known to be washed free at high tide, particularly if it coincided with a strong wind, but others could not be moved at all. Many crews, thus stranded, ran out of supplies, endured "innumerable sufferings", and killed themselves by the sword, or by throwing themselves into the sea, rather than endure slow death by starvation.

Declining Interest in Elephants

Ptolemaic interest in elephants, intense as it was, lasted little more than a century. Max Cary, a modern historian of the ancient world, observes that in the second century BC "the use of elephants for military purposes came to an end", though their tusks "continued to be in request for the ivory trade".

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The Largest of Ethiopia's Living Animals, II

Addis Tribune (Addis Adaba)
December 27, 2002

Richard Pankhurst

Ancient Ethiopian Elephant-Hunting

This post turns to old-time Ethiopian hunting methods, as reported by the classical writers.

The ancient Greeks, at least in part on account of the Ptolemaic experience, took a keen interest in Ethiopian or neighbouring other African methods of elephant-hunting. Their accounts, irrespective of their accuracy, which may well require debate, deserve historical attention.

Diodorus

Diodorus, basing himself, as so often, on Agarthachides, writes of what he calls the "Ethiopians known as Elephant-fighters", who, we may assume, inhabited what is today eastern Sudan, north-western Ethiopia, or western Eritrea. Of these people he reports:

"Dwelling as they do in regions covered with thickets and with trees growing close together, they carefully observe the place where the elephants enter and their favourite resorts, watching them from the tallest trees; and when they are in herds they do not set on them, since they would have no hope of success, but they lay their hands on them as they go about singly, attacking them in an astonishingly daring manner. For as the beast in its wandering comes near the tree in which the watcher happens to be hidden, the moment it is passing the spot he seizes its tail with his hands and plants his feet against its left flank; he has hanging from his shoulders an axe, light enough so that a blow may be struck with one hand and yet exceedingly sharp, and seizing this in his right he hamstrings the elephant's right leg, raining blows upon it and maintaining the position of his body with his left hand. And they bring an astonishing swiftness to bear upon this task, since there is a contest between the two of them for their very lives; for all that is left to the hunter is either to get the better of the animal, or die himself, the situation not admitting any other conclusion, as for the beast which has been hamstrung, sometimes being unable to turn about because it is hard for it to move and sinking down on the place where it has been hurt, it falls on the ground and causes the death of the Ethiopian along with his own, and sometimes squeezing the man against a rock or tree it crushes him with its weight until it has killed him. In some cases, however, the elephant in the extremity of its suffering is far from thinking of turning on its attacker, but flees across the plain until the man who has set his feet upon it, striking on the same place with his axe, has severed the tendons and paralysed the beast. And as soon as the beast has fallen they run together in companies, and cutting the flesh off the hind-quarters of the elephant while it is alive they hold a feast".

Ethiopian elephants, from an engraving in Ludolf's seventeenth century "Historia of Ethiopia,"

which claims that these animals almost share "Human understanding"

Photius

<![if !supportEmptyParas]>Photius, who gives a similar account, also describes a second method of hunting, as reported by Agathachides. He states that "three men armed with a single bow and numerous arrows covered with snake poison would place themselves in the forest on the tracks of the beasts". Then: "On the approach of the animal one of the hunters holds the bow firmly against his foot, while the other two stretch the cord with all their force, and shoot the arrow, aiming at a single point, the middle of the flank, so as to pierce the skin and wound the beast in the pit of its stomach; the creature thus hit writhes, then shakes convulsively, loses its strength, and collapses".

One last, apparently most ingenious local method of hunting (the accuracy of which may be questioned) is reported by both Diodorus and Photius. They claim that the hunters would cut the trees against which the animals were accustomed to rub themselves and often slept. The trees thus sawn, fell, they assert, in such a way that the animals, finding nothing to lean upon, lost their equilibrium, and thus became an easy prey for the hunters.

Do we believe this?

Diodorus, writing of the latter, says:

"Some of the natives who dwell nearby hunt the elephants without exposing themselves to dangers, overcoming their strength by cunning. For it is the habit of this animal, whenever it has had its full of grazing, to lie down to sleep, the manner in which it does this being different from that of all other four-footed animals; for it cannot bring its whole bulk to the ground by bending its knees, but leans against a tree and thus gets the rest which comes with sleep. Consequently the tree, by reason of the frequent leaning against it by the animal, becomes both rubbed and covered with mud, and the place about it, furthermore, shows both tracks and many signs, whereby the Ethiopians who search for such traces discover where the elephants take their rest. Accordingly, when they come upon such a tree, they saw it near the ground until it requires only a little push to make it fall; thereupon, after removing the traces of their own presence, they quickly depart in anticipation of the approach of the animal, and towards evening the elephant, filled with food, comes to his accustomed haunt. But as soon as he leans against the tree with his entire weight he at once rolls to the ground along with the tree, and after his fall he remains lying on his back the night through... Then the Ethiopians who have sawn the tree gather at dawn, and when they have slain the beast without danger to themselves they pitch their tents at the place and remain there until they have consumed the fallen animal".

Such methods of hunting are also mentioned by Strabo, and should be compared with accounts by later writers.

Elephant-hunting in Post-Pharaonic Times

Elephant-hunting in the Ethiopian region continued in post-Pharaonic times. The "Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", an important Greek text probably written around the first century AD, reports that at Adulis, as well as other ports on the northern Horn of Africa, "there was imported... iron, which is made into spears used against elephants and other beasts, and in their wars". Describing this hunting the author observes: "Practically the whole number of elephants and rhinoceroses that are killed live in the places inland, although at rare intervals they hunted on the sea-coast even near Adulis".

Further evidence of the scale of elephant-hunting at this time is evident from the fact that ivory, according to both the Periplus and Pliny was one of Adulis's principal exports.

Elephant-Taming

How far the Aksumites had mastered the skill of taming elephants is uncertain. Munro-Hay, a modern historian of Aksum, speculating in his book "Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity", as to whether "the rather unreliable African elephant could have been utilised" to help move the famous Aksum obelisks, observes that this is "not known, but makes an interesting speculation".

Evidence from the Aksumite period is in fact contradictory. An early fourth century inscription of King Ezana refers to his deploying a military unit called daqén, which some authorities have assumed to be related to zahon, the present-day Amharic for "elephant", from which they assumed that the regiment was accompanied by one or more of these animals. The question is further complicated by the fact that the usual Ge'ez term for elephant is nagé, which two linguists, the Frenchman Halévy and the German Littmann, have derived from the Sanscrit naga, leading them to suppose that the Aksumites may in fact have been importing elephants from western India.

Two centuries later, Kosmas Indikopleustes, an Egyptian merchant-cum-monk who visited both Adulis and Aksum, emphatically stated in his book "The Christian Topography" that "the Ethiopians do not understand the art of taming elephants". He nevertheless contradicts himself by continuing: "Should the king wish to have one or two for show, they capture them young and subject them to training".

Nonnosus, a Byzantine ambassador to Aksum who visited Aksum at about the same time, claims on the other hand that Emperor Kaléb actually had - wonder of wonders - a chariot pulled by elephants.

Both writers testify to the Aksumite kingdom's immense population of elephants. Nonnosus states that at Aue, midway between Aksum and Adulis, he saw "a large group of elephants, about five thousand in number". . Kosmas agrees as to the multitude of these mighty animals, and declares: "The country abounds with them, and they have large tusks which are exported by sea from Ethiopia even into India and Persia and the Homerite country [south Arabia] and the Roman dominion".

And that was quite a journey!

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