Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

Summary

As one of the most striking and persistent additions to the Hellenistic battlefield, it is unsurprising that war-elephants have attracted much interest. Fascinated by their unique and imposing physical appearance, our ancient sources offer many accounts of the devastating psychological effect that war-elephants had on those who were unfamiliar with them, and the destruction and chaos that they caused to their own troops if they panicked. Modern scholarship has similarly been interested in such details. Although Scullard's 1974 monograph, The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World, remains an authoritative contribution, the past twenty years in particular have seen a rise in critical works on Hellenistic war-elephants, advancing our understanding of their military use (both generally and in specific engagements) and their symbolic importance.Footnote 2 Despite these contributions, there remains an unusual detail which has not received much attention but is significant for our understanding of the military use and control of these animals: were elephants given alcohol before battle? This idea is first mentioned in the account given in 1 Maccabees (6:28–47) of the battle of Beth-Zechariah (162 b.c.e.) fought between the Seleucids and the Hasmonean Jews, and is supported by passing comments in Aelian's De natura animalium (13.8) and the much later Expositio de elephante (145–51) by the Byzantine court poet, Philes of Ephesus. There is also another story involving elephants and alcohol recounted in 3 Maccabees (5–6:21) and Josephus (Ap. 2.5) concerning Ptolemaic treatment of the Jews. This use of alcohol is unusual and has typically generated a brief discussion in many of the scholarly works on Hellenistic elephants. However, these works have often either quickly dismissed this detail,Footnote 3 or generalized it as a standard practice of elephant warfare,Footnote 4 especially since the author of 1 Maccabees (6:34) claims that the Seleucid elephants were given wine specif...