Archaeologists find possible first direct evidence of Hannibal's war elephants(smithsonianmag.com)
62 points by bryanrasmussen 4 hours ago | 14 comments
- HelloUsername 3 hours agoRelated: "Single bone in Spain offers first direct evidence of Hannibal's war elephants" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46917005 06-feb-2026 40 comments
- shevy-java 2 hours ago> A second-century Roman mosaic of a war elephant in Tunisia
It is quite interesting to see that the depicted elephant has wrong proportions. This makes one wonder whether the artist who created that mosaic, ever saw an elephant himself.
[-]- sonofhans 2 hours agoPure speculation, of course, but I would say so. The hump in the back; the small, high, tail; dominant forehead — those are all things missed by people who mis-draw elephants. I think this artist got them right, which is hard to do from description alone.[-]
- bertil 1 hour agoI’m very tempted to agree with you: people who draw from description draw unicorns after being told about rhinoceroses. We have a lot of medieval monks’ drawings of elephants by description and theirs look like tapir with a trumpet stuck in their nose. This is not a photo, of course but it mainly highlights the head, like any one would if they didn’t measured proportions carefully.
- beloch 51 minutes agoThere has also been debate about which species of elephant Hannibal's forces used. Elsewhere, Hellenistic Greek forces used Asian elephants, but many believe Hannibal used North African elephants, a sub-species that was extirpated by the Romans. Their proportions might have been a little different than living elephants. It will be interesting to see if the bone can help settle this debate.
- drekipus 2 hours agoWrong to elephants today
- inglor_cz 56 minutes agoMight be a limitation of the medium. Mosaics are complicated.
This famous "skeleton" mosaic has the proportions wrong as well, even though the artist almost certainly saw some actual human skeletons, and definitely some living humans with their longer arms and smaller heads than depicted :)
https://www.thehistoryblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Ha...
- __alexander 2 hours agoEveryone should visit Córdoba, Spain once in their life.[-]
- rrr_oh_man 1 hour agowhy?[-]
- inglor_cz 53 minutes agoThe mosque-turned-cathedral is an interesting (and huge) piece of medieval architecture.
The Roman bridge is fascinating as well.
Plus, if you arrive in summer, you will learn what heat is. Córdoba is hot even for the standards of Spanish summers. Hence, interesting night life. Not just drunkards, normal families and everyone who barely survived the day and now has the opportunity to live and socialize outside.
- bryanrasmussen 4 hours agooriginal title: Archaeologists Unearthed a 2,200-Year-Old Bone. They Say It Could Be the First Direct Evidence of Hannibal’s Legendary War Elephants
- sickofparadox 3 hours agoAt this rate, we're only a few years away from discovering evidence for Herodotus' giant ants.[-]
- Telemakhos 38 minutes agoThe anthill garnet is mined by ants on a Navajo reservation.
https://columbiagemhouse.com/pages/anthill-garnet
https://myeldesign.com/blogs/journal/the-fabulous-story-of-a...
- shakna 3 hours agoPeissel claimed that was marmots and totally real, didn't they?