THEME: Hunting in antiquity THEME PACHYDERMS IN THE PTOLEMAIC ARMY
Some Greeks were aware of the existence of elephants prior to Alexander’s campaign, but few had encountered them. For many of Alexander’s Greek and Macedonian soldiers, their encounters with them on the battlefields of Asia will have been novel and terrifying, as later historians like Curtius Rufus and Arrian depict.
The military potential of elephants was not lost on Alexander, who acquired possibly up to 200 of them from allies and defeated adversaries. Even though there is not much evidence to suggest Alexander ever deployed them in battle, his immediate successors, known as the , certainly did. These elephants became unevenly distributed, either through alliances or seizure after victory in battle. For example, Ptolemy, the son of Lagus (who later became Ptolemy I Soter), acquired some 43 elephants when he defeated Demetrius at Gaza in 312 BC (Diodorus Siculus, 19.84.3–5).
