Sassanian War Elephants
Valentinian Victor raised an interesting question in the Persian Preview post about the use of elelphants under the early Sassanian rulers. I thought it might be interesting to open a thread here to debate this in our usual informative and passionate manner!
Let me be blunt then: there is no conclusive evidence that the Sassanians who took over the Pathian empire used elephants in a war footing until the rise of Shapur II. There IS anachronistic evidence in the form of the HA, Armenian annals and even Tabari but all 3 of the above mentioned sources are either at best problemmatic or easily shown to be anachronistic.
However, this gives rise to the interesting question of when exactly DID the Sassanians deploy elephants either on the field of battle or in siege operations? In the early years after the defeat of the Parthian clans - who did not use elephants - we drift in a sea of uncertainty regarding elephant deployment until we reach the documented shores of Shapur II via Ammianus and others. On one side, lies a newly formed Sassanian state which has taken over almost wholesale the Parthian patrimony while on the other shore stands a Sassanian state now self-proclaiming itself the heir of the old Persian Empire. In that move, elephants re-emerge but precisely when is difficult to pinpoint.
I do have an idea when - and under who - these magnificent beasts reappeared but can not offer proof - only evidence.
Let me repeat the sources for elephants in this mod's period:
The HA when it talks about Severus Alexander - but we know this is a fiction or at best written long after the events and therefore projecting Sassanian war elephants back to an earlier age.
The Annales of al-Tabari refer to Shapur I, the son of Ardashir, using 'richly-caparisoned' war elephants against Hatra but again the poetic fragment that al-Tabari quotes has not had its providence verified and so must be viewed with caution as al-Tabari wrote over six hundred years later.
The Armenian history written by Moses of Khorene states that the Armenian King Tiridates (during the reign of Diolcetian) 'personally scattered the ranks of the elephants' - but again this account was written long after the events narrated.
One of the chronica mentions that Diocletian and Galerius celebrated a victory with a triumph through the streets of Rome that had 13 elephants but there are no accounts of elephants in battle - one scholar at least wonders if these elephants were not included merely to add an eastern aspect to the triumph.
It is Libanius who suggests a real clue as to when the elephants re-emerged onto the battlefield and from that point onwards we may state with candour that the Sassanians DID provide elephants in war - however we also cannot prove when exactly this happened or that they did NOT use them as early as Shapur I!
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Originally Posted by SeniorBatavianHorse
(because your question was about the evidences of their use in battle aginst the Romans in the second half of the IIIc.)
Thanks guys! I think the books like heavy volumes of paper!!!
(I fell like an old man a little... "Rincoglionito"...how to say in Englis?...fuked up!)
