An Elephant Quadriga

I'll show a Nero tet of Alexandria. Great coin @David Atherton



And of course my fairly rare Nerva with Agathadaemon

 

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A real elephant quadriga was probably a rickety contraption. The chariot must be fifteen feet high if the emperor wants to see what's before him. He will look like a puny gilded midget, vulnerable because of the sheer size and weight of the animals and the wheels of his vehicle.

Here's a much later coin with elephant quadriga, sadly rather worn, but still identifiable. It's from Nicaea, in the northwest of Asia Minor, where the image of the god Dionysus with elephants was used often in the course of the centuries.
To a god, the art of driving an elephant quadriga would only come natural.




Nicaea in Bithynia, Gallienus (253-268). AE22. Obv: ΠOV ΛI ЄΓ ΓAΛΛIHNOC. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: NIKAIЄΩN. Dionysos seated left on quadriga of elephants, pouring libations from a cantharus. 22.5 mm, 6.57 gr.