The war elephant

Interestingly enough, War Elephants are still employed to this day by the Kachin Independence Army rebels in Myanmar in a supportive/transportation role:



Somewhat recently I obtained an enormous Hellenistic lead sling bullet inscribed with a stylized thunderbolt. When pressed the dealer claimed to have no knowledge of its origins so it may well have come from Turkey. Cursory searching shows that slingers were deployed with great success to pelt the armored war elephants and their drivers as they could remain well outside the range of the projectiles lobbed by the soldiers riding in the towers, so it makes a nice story to hypothesize that the giant bullet was made specifically for use against elephants. Use against heavy cavalry would make sense as well but isn't quite as interesting.

"Elephant" bullet is 171.25g, or 6.04 ounces. The more typical anti-personnel bullet below is 27.25g, less than 1 ounce.

 

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The second coin probably has a Medusa on front, like https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5248687

See https://www.academia.edu/8693022/Antiochus_III_in_Coele_Syria_and_Phoenicia by Arthur Houghton.

 

Great coin David, I have not seen that type before and a great write up, thank you for sharing!

The Indian elephants were so important in Seleukos army, I think if Seleukos did not receive those 600 elephants from Chandragupta, the Battle of Ipsus would have been victorious by the Antigonids. It were those elephants that prevented Demetrios to assist his father.

I do not have any special Seleukid elephant coin:


Antiochus VI Dionysus Serrated Bronze Coin (144 B.C. - 142 B.C)
Obverse: Diademed, radiate head of Antiochos VI right, wreathed with ivy; dotted border.
Reverse: ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ’ in two lines above, ‘ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΥ’ in two lines below (“of King Antiochos, the Manifest Dionysos”); elephant walking left, holding torch in raised trunk.
21mm; 8.5g

This one does have neat countermarks:

Antiochos III Megas (223 B.C. - 187 B.C.) Bronze Coin, Military mint (ca. 210 B.C.)
Obverse: Laureate head of Antiochos III as Apollo right, doted border.
Reverse: ΒΑΣΙΛEΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ. Elephant right, ridden by mahout, two countermarks: anchor in oblong punch in left field and horse's head in square punch under elephant’s belly.
19mm; 9.55g

 

I have not studied this at all. What 'ancient' civilizations are known to have fought (shot arrows, thrown spears or anything) from elephants as opposed to using them either as transportation or for intimidation? Certainly pointing a running elephant at a line of foot soldiers would be a weapon of mass destruction in that day but few of the coins we see have mounted warriors. An exceptional exception:
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=222422

 

That's a heavy bullet, I haven't seen them that large. I think that would do a lot of damage with the right force.

I agree. Having an elephant corps was a nice advantage if properly used.

I am not certain how many show riders in a fighting stance, probably not many. Some show a mahout. Since that 10 Drachm is large enough to actually show all that detail, that could be the reason for it's existence?

 

septimius elephant denarius

 

Thank you, David! It is one of my favorites due to its intriguing history, relative scarcity, and cool design... fun to have!

You should get one!
Brian