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93-589: (Redirected from Numantine ) Numancia may refer to: Places Numancia, Spanish spelling of the ancient Celtiberian city of Numantia , near modern Soria , Spain Numancia de la Sagra , a town in Toledo, Spain Numancia (Madrid) , a ward of Madrid, Spain Numancia, Aklan , a town in the Philippines The former name of Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte , another town in

186-584: A crossing of the river Duero . Pliny the Elder counts it as a city of the Pellendones , but other authors, like Strabo and Ptolemy place it among the Arevaci people. The Arevaci were a Celtiberian tribe, formed by the mingling of Iberians and migrating Celts in the 6th century BC, who inhabited an area near Numantia and Uxama . The first serious conflict with Rome occurred in 153 BC when Quintus Fulvius Nobilior

279-523: A force of elephants to guard his palace at Babylon , and created the post of elephantarch to lead his elephant units. The successful military use of elephants spread further. The successors to Alexander's empire, the Diadochi , used hundreds of Indian elephants in their wars, with the Seleucid Empire being particularly notable for their use of the animals, still being largely brought from India. Indeed,

372-482: A lucrative trading commodity. Sri Lankan history records indicate elephants were used as mounts for kings leading their men in the battlefield, with individual mounts being recorded in history. The elephant Kandula was King Dutugamunu 's mount and Maha Pambata , 'Big Rock', the mount of King Ellalan during their historic encounter on the battlefield in 200 BC, for example. Elephants were used for warfare in China by

465-629: A mythological elephant, or on the Uchchaihshravas , as his mounts. Elephants were widely utilized in warfare by the later Vedic period by the 6th century BC. The increased conscription of elephants in the military history of India coincides with the expansion of the Vedic Kingdoms into the Indo-Gangetic Plain suggesting its introduction during the intervening period. The practice of riding on elephants in peace and war, royalty or commoner,

558-551: A permanent corps of war elephants. These elephants were able to carry a tower with some ten people on their backs. They were used successfully during the Han invasion of Ma Chu in 948. In 970, the Song dynasty invaded Southern Han and their crossbowmen readily routed the Han elephants on 23 January 971, during the taking of Shao. That was the last time elephants were used in Chinese warfare, although

651-717: A permanent fixture in armies of historical kingdoms in Southeast Asia . During classical antiquity they were also used in ancient Persia and in the Mediterranean world within armies of Macedon , Hellenistic Greek states, the Roman Republic and later Empire , and Ancient Carthage in North Africa . In some regions they maintained a firm presence on the battlefield throughout the Medieval era . However, their use declined with

744-623: A powerful imperial army. The Gupta Empire employed 'Mahapilupati', a position as an officer in charge of elephants. Emperors such as Kumaragupta struck coins depicted as elephant riders and lion slayers. Harsha established hegemony over most of North India. The Harshacharita composed by Bāṇabhaṭṭa describes the army under the rule of Harsha. Much like the Gupta Empire, his military consisted of infantry, cavalry, and elephants. Harsha received war elephants as tribute and presents from vassals. Some elephants were also obtained by forest rangers from

837-418: A short distance in front of his main infantry line, in order to scare off Macedonian cavalry attacks and aid his own infantry in their struggle against the phalanx . The elephants caused many losses with their tusks fitted with iron spikes or by lifting the enemies with their trunks and trampling them. Arrian described the subsequent fight: "[W]herever the beasts could wheel around, they rushed forth against

930-481: A small handful of southern dynasties. The state of Chu used elephants in 506 BC against Wu by tying torches to their tails and sending them into the ranks of the enemy soldiers, but the attempt failed. In December 554 AD, the Liang dynasty used armoured war elephants, carrying towers, against Western Wei . They were defeated by a volley of arrows. The Southern Han dynasty is the only state in Chinese history to have kept

1023-498: A very strong elephant force. The Chola emperor Rajendra Chola had an armored elephant force, which played a major role in his campaigns. Sri Lanka made extensive use of elephants and also exported elephants with Pliny the Elder stating that the Sri Lankan elephants, for example, were larger, fiercer and better for war than local elephants. This superiority, as well as the proximity of the supply to seaports, made Sri Lanka's elephants

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1116-462: Is assumed that Cassander constructed the first elephant transport sea vessels. Some of the elephants died of starvation in 316 BC in the besieged city of Pydna in Macedonia. Others of Polyperchon's elephants were used in various parts of Greece by Cassander. Although the use of war elephants in the western Mediterranean is most famously associated with the wars between Carthage and Roman Republic ,

1209-462: Is called a mahout . Mahouts were responsible for capturing and handling elephants. To accomplish this, they utilize metal chains and a specialized hook called an ankus , or 'elephant goad'. According to Chanakya as recorded in the Arthashastra , first the mahout would have to get the elephant used to being led. The elephant would have learned how to raise its legs to help a rider climb on. Then

1302-667: Is confirmed by the image of a turreted African elephant used on the coinage of Juba II . This also appears to be the case with Ptolemaic armies: Polybius reports that at the battle of Raphia in 217 BC the elephants of Ptolemy IV carried turrets; these elephants were significantly smaller than the Asian elephants fielded by the Seleucids and so presumably African forest elephants. There is also evidence that Carthaginian war elephants were furnished with turrets and howdahs in certain military contexts. Farther south, tribes would have had access to

1395-504: Is considered in its prime and at the height of its power between the ages of 25 and 40, yet elephants as old as 80 are used in tiger hunts because they are more disciplined and experienced. It is commonly thought that the reason all war elephants were male was because of males' greater aggression, but it was instead because a female elephant in battle will run from a male; therefore only males could be used in war, whereas female elephants were more commonly used for logistics . According to

1488-637: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Numantia Numantia is famous for its role in the Celtiberian Wars . In 153 BC, Numantia experienced its first serious conflict with Rome. After twenty years of hostilities, in 133 BC the Roman Senate gave Scipio Aemilianus Africanus the task of destroying Numantia. Numantia was an Iron Age hill fort (in Roman terminology an oppidum ), which controlled

1581-563: Is now southern Vietnam used elephants against the invading army of China's Sui dynasty . The Sui army dug pits and lured the elephants into them and shot them with crossbows, causing the elephants to turn back and trample their own army. In 1075, the Song defeated elephants deployed on the borderlands of Đại Việt during the Lý–Song War . The Song forces used scythed polearms to cut the elephants' trunks, causing them to trample their own troops. During

1674-407: Is then said to have had a religious revelation and rejected violence. The Gupta Empire demonstrated extensive use of elephants in war and greatly expanded under the reign of Samudragupta . Local squads which each consisted of one elephant, one chariot, three armed cavalrymen, and five foot soldiers protected Gupta villages from raids and revolts. In times of war, the squads joined together to form

1767-659: The African savanna elephant ( Loxodonta africana oxyotis ). Although much larger than either the African forest elephant or the Asian elephant, these proved difficult to tame for war purposes and were not used extensively. Asian elephants were traded westwards to the Mediterranean markets with Sri Lankan elephants being particularly preferred for war. Perhaps inspired by the victories of Pyrrhus of Epirus , Carthage developed its own use of war elephants and deployed them extensively during

1860-586: The First Book of Maccabees , the Seleucids used the "blood of grapes and mulberries" to provoke their war elephants in preparation for battle. There is uncertainty as to when elephant warfare first started, but it is widely accepted that it began in ancient India . The early Vedic period did not extensively specify the use of elephants in war. However, in the Ramayana , Indra is depicted as riding either Airavata ,

1953-628: The Holy Land , the same animal later being used in the capture of Cremona in 1214, but the use of these individual animals was more symbolic than practical, especially when contrasting food and water consumption of elephants in foreign lands and the harsh conditions of the crusades. The Mongols faced war-elephants in Khorazm , Burma , Siam , Vietnam , Khmer and India throughout the 13th century. Despite their unsuccessful campaigns in Vietnam and India ,

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2046-658: The Indus Valley civilization , around roughly 2000 BC. Archaeological evidence for the presence of wild elephants in the Yellow River valley in Shang China ( c.  1600–1100 BC ) may suggest that they also used elephants in warfare. The wild elephant populations of Mesopotamia and China declined quickly because of deforestation and human population growth: by 850 BC the Mesopotamian elephants were extinct, and by 500 BC

2139-566: The Jews who had revolted during the Maccabean Revolt . In the ensuing battle, near the mountainous straights adjacent to Beth Zachariah , Eleazar , brother of Judas Maccabeus , attacked the largest of the elephants, piercing its underside and causing it to collapse upon him, killing him under its weight. The North African elephant was a significant animal in Nubian culture . They were depicted on

2232-530: The Kingdom of Kush . The animal used was the North African elephant ( Loxodonta africana pharaohensis ) which would become extinct from overexploitation . These animals were smaller and harder to tame, and could not swim deep rivers compared with the Asian elephants used by the Seleucid Empire on the east of the Mediterranean region, particularly Syrian elephants , which stood 2.5–3.5 meters (8.2–11.5 ft) at

2325-513: The Kurukshetra War two men were to duel utilizing the same weapon and mount including elephants. In the Mahābhārata the akshauhini battle formation consists of a ratio of 1 chariot : 1 elephant : 3 cavalry : 5 infantry soldiers. Many characters in the Mahābhārata were described as skilled in the art of elephant warfare e.g. Duryodhana rides an elephant into battle to bolster

2418-597: The Mughal Empire . Babur introduced firearms and artillery into Indian warfare. He destroyed the army of Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat and the army of Rana Sanga in 1527 at the Battle of Khanua . The great Moghul Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605 AD) had 32,000 elephants in his stables. Jahangir , (reigned 1605–1627 A.D.) was a great connoisseur of elephants. He increased the number of elephants in service. Jahangir

2511-662: The Nanda Empire under the reign of Mahapadma Nanda . Pliny the Elder and Plutarch also estimated the Nanda Army strength in the east as 200,000 infantry , 80,000 cavalry , 8,000 chariots , and 6,000 war elephants. Alexander the Great would come in contact with the Nanda Empire on the banks of the Beas River and was forced to return due to his army's unwillingness to advance. Even if

2604-556: The Pala Empire was noted for its huge elephant corps, with estimates ranging from 5,000 to 50,000. The Ghaznavids were the first amongst the Islamic dynasties to incorporate war elephants into their tactical theories. They also used a large number of elephants in their battles. The Ghaznavids acquired their elephants as tribute from the Hindu princes and as war plunder. The sources usually list

2697-634: The Persian Achaemenid Empire , where they were used in several campaigns. They in turn came to influence the campaigns of Alexander the Great , king of Macedonia in Hellenistic Greece . The first confrontation between Europeans and the Persian war elephants occurred at Alexander's Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC), where the Persians deployed fifteen elephants. These elephants were placed at

2790-647: The Seleucid–Mauryan war of 305–303 BC ended with the Seleucids ceding vast eastern territories in exchange for 500 war elephants – a small part of the Mauryan forces, which included up to 9000 elephants by some accounts. The Seleucids put their new elephants to good use at the Battle of Ipsus four years later, where they blocked the return of the victorious Antigonid cavalry, allowing the latter's phalanx to be isolated and defeated. The first use of war elephants in Europe

2883-793: The Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) did keep a herd of elephants capable of carrying a tower and eight men, which he showed to his guests in 1598. These elephants were probably not native to China and were delivered to the Ming dynasty by Southeast Asian countries such as Siam . During the Revolt of the Three Feudatories , the rebels used elephants against the Qing dynasty , but the Qing Bannermen shot them with so many arrows that they "resembled porcupines" and repelled

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2976-514: The mahouts were armed with poisoned rods to kill the beasts but were slain by javelins and archers. Looking further east again, however, Alexander could see that the emperors and kings of the Nanda Empire and Gangaridai could deploy between 3,000 and 6,000 war elephants. Such a force was many times larger than the number of elephants employed by the Persians and Greeks, which probably discouraged Alexander's army and effectively halted their advance into India. On his return, Alexander established

3069-568: The 4th century. Later remains from the 6th century hint of a Visigoth occupation. Numantia's exact location vanished from memory, and some theories placed it in Zamora , but in 1860 Eduardo Saavedra identified the correct location in Garray , Soria. In 1882, the ruins of Numantia were declared a national monument . In 1905, the German archaeologist Adolf Schulten began a series of excavations which located

3162-578: The Chinese elephants were seriously reduced in numbers and limited to areas well south of the Yellow River. Capturing elephants from the wild remained a difficult task, but a necessary one given the difficulties of breeding in captivity and the long time required for an elephant to reach sufficient maturity to engage in battle. Sixty-year-old war elephants were always prized as being at the most suitable age for battle service and gifts of elephants of this age were seen as particularly generous. Today an elephant

3255-616: The Elephant "), approximately equating to 570 AD . At that time Abraha , the Christian ruler of Yemen , marched upon the Ka‘bah in Mecca , intending to demolish it. He had a large army, which included one or more elephants (as many as eight, in some accounts). However, the (single or lead) elephant, whose name was ' Mahmud ', is said to have stopped at the boundary around Mecca, and refused to enter – which

3348-557: The Epirot forces routed the Romans. The next year, the Epirots again deployed a similar force of elephants, attacking the Romans at the battle of Asculum . This time the Romans came prepared with flammable weapons and anti-elephant devices: these were ox-drawn wagons, equipped with long spikes to wound the elephants, pots of fire to scare them, and accompanying screening troops who would hurl javelins at

3441-558: The First and Second Punic Wars . The performance of the Carthaginian elephant corps was rather mixed, illustrating the need for proper tactics to take advantage of the elephant's strength and cover its weaknesses. At Adyss in 255 BC, the Carthaginian elephants were ineffective due to the terrain, while at the battle of Panormus in 251 BC the Romans' velites were able to terrify the Carthaginian elephants being used unsupported, which fled from

3534-573: The Kushan as acquiring riches including elephants as part of their conquests. The emperor Kanishka assembled a great army from his subject nations, including elephants from India. He planned on attacking the Tarim Kingdoms , and sent a vanguard of Indian troops led by white elephants. However, when crossing the Pamir Mountains the elephants and horses in the vanguard were unwilling to advance. Kanishka

3627-519: The Mauryan Empire, the 30-member war office was made up of six boards. The sixth board looked after the elephants, and were headed by Gajadhyaksha . The gajadhyaksha was the superintendent of elephants and his qualifications. The use of elephants in the Maurya Empire as recorded by Chanakya in the Arthashastra . According to Chanakya; catching, training, and controlling war elephants was one of

3720-563: The Mong Mao campaign, the elephants were routed by an assortment of gunpowder projectiles. In the war against the Hồ dynasty , Ming troops covered their horses with lion masks to scare the elephants and shot them with firearms. The elephants all trembled with fear and were wounded by the guns and arrows, causing the Viet army to panic. From India, military thinking on the use of war elephants spread westwards to

3813-657: The Mongols defeated the war elephants outside Samarkand by using catapults and mangonels , and during the Mongol invasions of Burma in 1277–1287 and 1300–1302 by showering arrows from their famous composite bows . Genghis and Kublai both retained captured elephants as part of their entourage. Another central Asian invader, Timur faced similar challenges a century later. In the Sack of Delhi , Timur's army faced more than one hundred Indian elephants in battle and almost lost because of

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3906-423: The Philippines Ships Spanish ironclad Numancia , the first ironclad warship to circumnavigate the Earth Spanish frigate  Numancia , modern Spanish frigate Other CD Numancia , a professional football club in Spain See also [ edit ] Siege of Numantia (134–33 BC ), Roman siege of the Celtiberian city The Siege of Numantia (c.1582), play by Cervantes about

3999-412: The Ptolemies and the military of Carthage did not carry howdahs or turrets in combat, perhaps owing to the physical weakness of the species. Some allusions to turrets in ancient literature are certainly anachronistic or poetic invention, but other references are less easily discounted. There is explicit contemporary testimony that the army of Juba I of Numidia included turreted elephants in 46 BC. This

4092-409: The Roman army from destruction by signing a peace treaty with the Numantines, an action generally reserved for a legate . The final siege of Numantia began in 134 BC. Scipio Aemilianus in command of an army of 30,000 soldiers laid siege to the city, erecting a 9 km barrier supported by towers, moats, impaling rods, and other devices. The Numantians refused to surrender and famine quickly spread through

4185-401: The Roman campaign against the Lusitanians and Celtiberians in Hispania. During the Second Celtiberian War , Quintus Fulvius Nobilior was helped by ten elephants sent by king Masinissa of Numidia . He deployed them against the Celtiberian forces of Numantia , but a falling stone hit one of the elephants, which panicked and frightened the rest, turning them against the Roman forces. After

4278-462: The Roman camps around the city. In 1999, the Roman camps were included in a zona arqueológica , a category of the Spanish heritage register which did not exist when the hillfort was first protected. Regular excavations are still going on. Many objects from the site are on display in the Numantine Museum of Soria (Spanish: Museo Numantino ). This museum is also responsible for in situ displays at Numantia. Other collections which have items from

4371-496: The Roman cavalry and Gallic allies. The Romans eventually developed effective anti-elephant tactics, leading to Hannibal's defeat at his final battle of Zama in 202 BC; his elephant charge, unlike the one at the battle of Tunis, was ineffective because the disciplined Roman maniples simply made way for them to pass. Rome brought back many elephants at the end of the Punic Wars , and used them in its campaigns for many years afterwards. The conquest of Greece saw many battles in which

4464-407: The Romans deployed war elephants, including the invasion of Macedonia in 199 BC, the battle of Cynoscephalae 197 BC, the battle of Thermopylae , and the battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, during which Antiochus III 's fifty-four elephants took on the Roman force of sixteen. In later years the Romans deployed twenty-two elephants at Pydna in 168 BC. The role of the elephant force at Cynoscephalae

4557-538: The Romans used a war elephant in their first invasion of Britain , one ancient writer recording that "Caesar had one large elephant, which was equipped with armor and carried archers and slingers in its tower. When this unknown creature entered the river, the Britons and their horses fled and the Roman army crossed over" – although he may have confused this incident with the use of a similar war elephant in Claudius ' final conquest of Britain . At least one elephantine skeleton with flint weapons that has been found in England

4650-432: The Romans, such as during Julian's invasion of Persia . Other examples include the Battle of Vartanantz in 451 AD, at which the Sassanid elephants terrified the Armenians , and the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah of 636 AD, in which a unit of thirty-three elephants was used against the invading Arab Muslims , in which battle the war elephants proved to be a "double-edged sword". The Sassanid elephant corps held primacy amongst

4743-418: The Sassanid cavalry forces and was recruited from India . The elephant corps was under a special chief, known as the Zend−hapet , literally meaning "Commander of the Indians", either because the animals came from that country, or because they were managed by natives of Hindustan . The Sassanid elephant corps was never on the same scale as others further east, however, and after the fall of the Sassanid Empire

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4836-492: The centre of the Persian line and made such an impression on Alexander's army that he felt the need to sacrifice to Phobos , the God of Fear, the night before the battle – but according to some sources the elephants ultimately failed to deploy in the final battle owing to their long march the day before. Alexander won resoundingly at Gaugamela, but was deeply impressed by the enemy elephants and took these first fifteen into his own army, adding to their number during his capture of

4929-433: The city in his poetry book Campos de Castilla . The poem is an ode to the countryside and peoples of rural Castile . More recently, Carlos Fuentes wrote a short story about the event, "The Two Numantias", in his collection The Orange Tree . Several Spanish Navy ships have been named Numancia and a Sorian battalion was named batallón de numantinos . During the Spanish Civil War , the Nationalist Numancia regiment took

5022-413: The city. After eight months most of the inhabitants decided to commit suicide rather than become slaves. A few hundred of the inhabitants decided to burn the city before surrendering after 13 months of siege. After the destruction in 133 BC, occupation continued in the 1st century BC with a regular street plan but without great public buildings. Its decay started in the 3rd century, but was still settled in

5115-425: The demoralized Kaurava army. Scriptures like the Nikāya and Vinaya Pitaka assign elephants in their proper place in the organization of an army. The Samyutta Nikaya additionally mentions the Gautama Buddha being visited by a 'hatthāroho gāmaṇi'. He is the head of a village community bound together by their profession as mercenary soldiers forming an elephant corp. Ancient Indian kings certainly valued

5208-432: The elephant charge. ... the soldiers of the first column were attacked by the elephants. The flags of Major-general of the Guards, Walda of the Yellow Banner, and of Lieutenant Ulehi of the Manchu-Mongol cavalry were captured. As the elephants closed in on the encircled soldiers of the second column, the arrows shot by all of my men [into the elephants’ hides] looked like the quills of a porcupine. The elephants fled towards

5301-418: The elephant in war, some stating that an army without elephants is as despicable as a forest without a lion , a kingdom without a king, or as valor unaided by weapons. The use of elephants further increased with the rise of the Mahajanapadas . King Bimbisara ( c.  543 BC ), who began the expansion of the Magadha kingdom, relied heavily on his war elephants. The Mahajanapadas would be conquered by

5394-399: The elephants seemed to have been thrown into panic by Caesar's archers and slingers. The Parthian Empire occasionally used war elephants in their battles against the Roman Empire , having done so in at least one war against the Romans but elephants were of substantial importance in the army of the subsequent Sassanid Empire . The Sasanian war elephants are recorded in engagements against

5487-465: The elephants to drive them away. A final charge of Epirot elephants won the day again, but this time Pyrrhus had suffered very heavy casualties – a Pyrrhic victory . The Seleucid king Antiochus V Eupator , whose father and he contended with Ptolemaic Egypt 's ruler Ptolemy VI for control of Syria, invaded Judea in 161 BCE with eighty elephants (some sources claim thirty-two ), some of which were clad in armored breastplates, in an attempt to subdue

5580-468: The elephants were taught to run and maneuver around obstacles, and move in formation. These elephants would be fit to learn how to systematically trample and charge enemies. The first elephant species to be tamed was the Asian elephant , for use in agriculture. Elephant taming – not full domestication , as they are still captured in the wild, rather than being bred in captivity – may have begun in any of three different places. The oldest evidence comes from

5673-488: The elephants' charge. Later, the Timurid leader used the captured animals against the Ottoman Empire . In Southeast Asia , the powerful Khmer Empire had come to regional dominance by the 9th century AD, drawing heavily on the use of war elephants. Uniquely, the Khmer military deployed double cross-bows on the top of their elephants. With the collapse of Khmer power in the 15th century, the successor region powers of Burma (now Myanmar) and Siam (now Thailand ) also adopted

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5766-404: The elephants' rear to perform the same, in order to propel the elephants only in one direction, preventing them turning their backs because of frontal attack and charging against his own lines, but the author of De Bello Africano admits of the enormous effort and time required to accomplish this. By the time of Claudius however, such animals were being used by the Romans in single numbers only –

5859-434: The fear they caused amongst his troops. Historical accounts say that the Timurids ultimately won by employing an ingenious strategy: Timur tied flaming straw to the back of his camels before the charge. The smoke made the camels run forward, scaring the elephants, who crushed their own troops in their efforts to retreat. Another account of the campaign by Ahmed ibn Arabshah reports that Timur used oversized caltrops to halt

5952-438: The field. At the battle of Tunis however the charge of the Carthaginian elephants helped to disorder the legions , allowing the Carthaginian phalanx to stand fast and defeat the Romans. During the Second Punic War , Hannibal famously led an army of war elephants across the Alps , although many of them perished in the harsh conditions. The surviving elephants were successfully used in the battle of Trebia , where they panicked

6045-419: The hills [but] I was greatly alarmed and had a strange feeling. The rebels withdrew from the plain and split into groups [to hide] in the thick forest of the mountain. Chinese armies faced off against war elephants in Southeast Asia, such as during the Sui–Lâm Ấp war (605), Lý–Song War (1075–1077), Ming–Mong Mao War (1386–1388) , and Ming–Hồ War (1406–1407). In 605, the Champa kingdom of Lâm Ấp in what

6138-407: The introduction of war elephants there was primarily the result of an invasion by Hellenistic era Epirus across the Adriatic Sea . King Pyrrhus of Epirus brought twenty elephants to attack Roman Italy at the battle of Heraclea in 280 BC, leaving some fifty additional animals, on loan from Ptolemaic Pharaoh Ptolemy II , on the mainland. The Romans were unprepared for fighting elephants, and

6231-518: The jungles. Elephants were additionally taken from defeated armies. Bana additionally details the diet of the elephants, recording that they each consumed 600 pounds of fodder consisting of trees with mangos and sugarcanes. The Chola dynasty and the Western Chalukya Empire maintained a large number of war elephants in the 11th and 12th century. The war elephants of the Chola dynasty carried on their backs fighting towers which were filled with soldiers who would shoot arrows at long range. The army of

6324-408: The last significant use of war elephants in the Mediterranean was against the Romans at the battle of Thapsus , 46 BC, where Julius Caesar armed his fifth legion ( Alaudae ) with axes and commanded his legionaries to strike at the elephant's legs. The legion withstood the charge, and the elephant became its symbol. Thapsus was the last significant use of elephants in the West. The remainder of

6417-456: The most important skills taught by the military academies. He advised Chandragupta to set up forested sanctuaries for the wellness of the elephants. Chanakya explicitly conveyed the importance of these sanctuaries. The Maurya Empire would reach its zenith under the reign of Ashoka , who used elephants extensively during his conquest. During the Kalinga War , Kalinga had a standing army of 60,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry and 700 war elephants. Kalinga

6510-424: The number of beasts captured, and these frequently ran into hundreds, such as 350 from Qanauj and 185 from Mahaban in 409/1018-19, and 580 from the Raja Ganda in 410/1019-20. Utbi records that the Thanesar expedition of 405/1014-15 was provoked by Mahmad's desire to get some of the special breed of Sri lankan breed of elephants excellent in war In 1526, Babur , a descendant of Timur , invaded India and established

6603-447: The numbers and prowess of these elephants were exaggerated by historic accounts, elephants were established firmly as war machines in this period. Chandragupta Maurya (321–297 BC), formed the Maurya Empire , the largest empire to exist in South Asia. At the height of his power, Chandragupta is said to have wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants besides followers and attendants. In

6696-520: The ranks of infantry and demolished the phalanx of the Macedonians, dense as it was." The Macedonians adopted the standard ancient tactic for fighting elephants, loosening their ranks to allow the elephants to pass through and assailing them with javelins as they tried to wheel around; they managed to pierce the unarmoured elephants' legs. The panicked and wounded elephants turned on the Indians themselves;

6789-702: The rest of Persia. By the time Alexander reached the borders of India five years later, he had a substantial number of elephants under his own command. When it came to defeating Porus , who ruled in what is now Punjab, Pakistan , Alexander found himself facing a considerable force of between 85 and 100 war elephants at the Battle of the Hydaspes . Preferring stealth and mobility to sheer force, Alexander manoeuvered and engaged with just his infantry and cavalry, ultimately defeating Porus' forces, including his elephant corps, albeit at some cost. Porus for his part placed his elephants individually, at long intervals from each other,

6882-523: The royal stables, including the capture of elephants, was called the Gajanayake Nilame , while the post of Kuruve Lekham controlled the Kuruwe or elephant men. The training of war elephants was the duty of the Kuruwe clan who came under their own Muhandiram, a Sri Lankan administrative post. In Islamic history there is a significant event known as the ‘Am al-Fil ( Arabic : عَـام الـفـيـل , " Year of

6975-511: The shoulder. It is likely that at least some Syrian elephants were traded abroad. The favorite, and perhaps last surviving, elephant of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps was an impressive animal named Surus ("the Syrian"), which may have been of Syrian stock, though the evidence remains ambiguous. Since the late 1940s, a strand of scholarship has argued that the African forest elephants used by Numidia,

7068-486: The siege Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Numancia . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Numancia&oldid=1148730137 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

7161-570: The site include the Romano-Germanic Central Museum , Mainz. (Some objects were taken by Adolf Schulten to Germany). The Siege of Numantia was recorded by several Roman historians who admired the sense of freedom of the ancient Iberians and acknowledged their fighting skills against the Roman legions. Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quijote ) wrote a play about the siege, El cerco de Numancia , which stands today as his best-known dramatic work. Antonio Machado references

7254-456: The spread of firearms and other gunpowder weaponry in early modern warfare . After this, war elephants became restricted to non-combat engineering and labour roles, as well as being used for minor ceremonial uses. They continued to be used in combat, however, in some parts of the world, such as in Burma , Thailand , and Vietnam , well into the 19th century. An elephant trainer, rider, or keeper

7347-477: The subsequent Celtiberian counterattack, the Romans were forced to withdraw. Later, Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus marched against Viriathus with another ten elephants sent by king Micipsa . However, the Lusitanian style of ambushes in narrow terrains ensured his elephants did not play an important factor in the conflict, and Servilianus was eventually defeated by Viriathus in the city of Erisana. Famously,

7440-484: The town of Azaña in Toledo. To erase the memory of the Republican president Manuel Azaña , they renamed it Numancia de la Sagra . The Sorian football team is called CD Numancia . The expression "numantine resistance" is occasionally used to refer to particularly obdurate resistance. War elephants A war elephant is an elephant that is trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically,

7533-593: The use of war elephants died out in the region. The Kingdom of Aksum in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea made use of war elephants in 525 AD during the invasion of the Himyarite Kingdom in the Arabian peninsula. The war elephants used by the Aksumite army consisted of African savannah elephants , a significantly larger and more temperamental species of elephant. War elephants were again put to use by an Aksumite army in

7626-499: The walls of temples and on Meroitic lamps. Kushite kings also utilize war elephants, which are believed to have been kept and trained in the " Great Enclosure " at Musawwarat al-Sufa . The Kingdom of Kush provided these war elephants to the Egyptians, Ptolemies and Syrians. The Ptolemaic Egypt and the Punics began acquiring African elephants for the same purpose, as did Numidia and

7719-562: The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant-mounted troops. In modern times, war elephants on the battlefield were effectively made redundant by the invention of motor vehicles, particularly tanks . War elephants played a critical role in several key battles in antiquity , especially in ancient India . While seeing limited and periodic use in Ancient China , they became

7812-580: The year 570 in a military expedition against the Quraysh of Mecca. The Kushan Empire conquered most of Northern India. The empire adopted war elephants when levying troops as they expanded into the Indian subcontinent. The Weilüe describes how the population of Eastern India rode elephants into battle, but currently they provide military service and taxes to the Yuezhi (Kushans). The Hou Hanshu additionally describes

7905-590: Was consul . Numantia took in some fugitives from the city of Segeda , who belonged to another Celtiberian tribe called the Belli. The leader of the Belli, Carus of Segeda, managed to defeat a Roman army. The Romans then besieged Numantia, and deployed a small number of war elephants , but were unsuccessful. In 137 BC, 20,000 Romans surrendered to the Celtiberians of Numantia (population between 4,000 and 8,000). The young Roman officer Tiberius Gracchus , as quaestor , saved

7998-412: Was considered the most royal, while seldom riding the back of elephants. Although viewed as secondary to chariots by royalty, elephants were the preferred vehicle of warriors, especially the elite ones. While the chariots eventually fell into disuse, the other three arms continued to be valued. Many characters in the epic Mahābhārata were trained in the art. According to the rules of engagement set for

8091-514: Was first recorded in the 6th or 5th century BC. This practice is believed to be much older than proper recorded history. The ancient Indian epics Ramayana and Mahābhārata , dating from 5th–4th century BC, elaborately depict elephant warfare. They are recognized as an essential component of royal and military processions. In ancient India, initially, the army was fourfold ( chaturanga ), consisting of infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots . Kings and princes principally ride on chariots, which

8184-537: Was initially misidentified as these elephants, but later dating proved it to be a mammoth skeleton from the Stone Age . In the African campaign of the Roman civil war of 49–45 BC, the army of Metellus Scipio used elephants against Caesar's army at the battle of Thapsus . Scipio trained his elephants before the battle by aligning the elephants in front of slingers that would throw rocks at them, and another line of slingers at

8277-651: Was made in 318 BC by Polyperchon , one of Alexander's generals, when he besieged Megalopolis in the Peloponnesus during the wars of the Diadochi. He used 60 elephants brought from Asia with their mahouts. A veteran of Alexander's army, named Damis, helped the besieged Megalopolitians to defend themselves against the elephants and eventually Polyperchon was defeated. Those elephants were subsequently taken by Cassander and transported, partly by sea, to other battlefields in Greece. It

8370-527: Was notable for the quality of their war elephants which were prized by its neighbors for being stronger. Later the King Kharavela was to restore an independent Kalinga into a powerful kingdom using war elephants as stated in the Hathigumpha inscription or "Elephant Cave" Inscriptions. Following Indian accounts foreign rulers would also adopt the use of elephants. The Chola Empire of Tamil Nadu also had

8463-429: Was particularly decisive, as their quick charge shattered the unformed Macedonian left wing, allowing the Romans to encircle and destroy the victorious Macedonian right. A similar event also occurred at Pydna. The Romans' successful use of war elephants against the Macedonians might be considered ironic, given that it was Pyrrhus who first taught them the military potential of elephants. Elephants also featured throughout

8556-566: Was stated to have 113,000 elephants in captivity: 12,000 in active army service, 1,000 to supply fodder to these animals, and another 100,000 elephants to carry courtiers, officials, attendants and baggage. King Rajasinghe I laid siege to the Portuguese fort at Colombo , Sri Lanka , in 1558 with an army containing 2,200 elephants, used for logistics and siege work. The Sri Lankans had continued their proud traditions in capturing and training elephants from ancient times. The officer in charge of

8649-607: Was taken by both the Meccans and their Yemenite foes as a serious omen. According to Islamic tradition, it was in this year that Muhammad was born. In the Middle Ages , elephants were seldom used in Europe. Charlemagne took his one elephant, Abul-Abbas , when he went to fight the Danes in 804, and the Crusades gave Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II the opportunity to capture an elephant in

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