ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 147 



paign, and had its tusks adorned with gold bands on which 

 were inscribed the words in Greek: "Alexander, son of Zeus, 

 dedicates Ajax to Helios," showing that he had named this 

 elephant after a Homeric hero renowned for his courage and 

 fortitude. It was related that this same elephant was still 

 living in the time of Domitian, four hundred or more years 

 after the battle with Porus, and no one could tell how old 

 he might then have been.* The story is, of course, quite 

 apocryphal in what concerns the elephant's marvellous 

 longevity at least, for two hundred years is regarded as the 

 extreme age limit this animal very occasionally attains. 



The splendid funeral car in which the remains of Alexander 

 the Great were borne from Babylon to Egypt was adorned 

 with representations of elephants,! and it has been conject- 

 ured, though without any material proof, that the generally 

 exact description given by Aristotle of the elephant resulted 

 from his having had the opportunity to see a specimen sent 

 him by his former pupil, Alexander. 



In a magnificent street pageant that Ptolemy Philadelphus 

 (Ptolemy II, 309-247 B. C.) offered to the citizens of Alexan- 

 dria, the most impressive feature was a colossal figure of 

 Bacchus, twelve cubits in height, seated upon an elephant, 

 on whose neck was a satyr five cubits high; accompanying 

 and following this came Silenus, nymphs, satyrs, etc., the 

 usual train of Bacchus. J In view of the immense propor- 

 tions of the Bacchus image, it seems that the elephant 

 must have been an artificial one, made of proportionate 

 size. 



Plato in his Critias (written about 400 B. C), reciting the 

 fable of the Island of Atlantis, which some have conjectured 



*Gisberti Cuperi, "De elephants in nummis obviis," Hagse Comitum, 1719, col. 44, 

 citing Philostrati "De vita ApoUonii," Lib. II, cap. 6. 



fDiodorus Siculus, Lib. XVIII. 



JGisberti Cuperi, "De elephantis in nummis obviis," Hagse Comitum, 1719, col. 56, 

 citing Callizenus Rhodius apud Athenaeus, Lib. V. 



