Elephant {tXkpag) does not occur in the text of the canonical Scriptures of the A. V., except in the adj. tXf^ojTti'Of,, "of ivory," Rev. xviii, 12. But tlie an- imal is believed to be referred to in the Heb. C^^H'^'Z; elephant's tooth, i. e. " ivorj'," 1 Kings x, 22; 2 Chron. ix, 21. See Ivory. Some have also regarded it as identical with the Behemoth (q. v.), as in the margin of Job xl, 15. Elephants, however, arc repeated!}' mentioned in the 1st and 2d books of Maccabees as be- ing used in warfare. The way in which they were used in battle, and the method of exciting them to fight, is described in 1 Mace. vi. The essential sylla- ble of the Greek (and modern) name seems to be de- rived from that whicli all the nations of the south and west of Asia have for many ages generally used, name- ly, Jil, fei I, pheel, phil, b'^S ; for we find it in the Chal- dee (xbiS, 2»^<i', Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 1722), Syr- iac, Persian, Aral)ic, and Turkish, extending to the east far beyond the Ganges, where, nevertheless, in the indigenous tongues, anei, rraranam, and hatti are existing names. See Cassel, De variis eleph. denomi- natt. in the Symhol. lit. Brem. I, i, 13G sq. ; Zeitschr.f. Kunde des Morgenl. 1 V, i, 12 sq.
It is well known that these animals were anciently employed in battles, originallj' in India (Aristotle,
ELEPHAXT
133
ELEPHANT
Anini. ix, 1; Pliny, vi, 22; ^lian, Anim. xiii, 8, 22; com p. Ritter, Erdk. v, 903 sq.), where the}' are com- monly stronger and more sagacious than in Africa (Dioti. Sic. ii, 16 ; Pliny, vi, 22 ; Philostr. Apol. ii, 12 ; Curtius, viii, 9, 17; yElian, Anim. xvi, 15; yet see Herod, iv, 191 ; comp. Burmeistcr, in the Hall. Encycl. xxxiii, 2G5 sq.) ; Hext in Persia (although onlj' indirect- ly before the times of Alexander, Arrian, Alex, iii, 11, C); later also in Asia Minor and even in the West (Flor. i, 18 ; Livj% xxxi, 3G ; xxxvii, 40 ; xxxviii, 39 ; Hir- tius, Bell. Afr. xlviii, 8C ; Pliny, viii, 5 ; Veget. Mil. iii, 2-1; comp. Pausanias, i, 12, 4); and the Maccabees had to contend with such trained elephants in the Syr- ian armies of the Seleucida; (comp. Plutarch, Demetr. xxviii sq. ; Appian, Si/r. 4(5; Polybius, xi, 32) in im- mense numbers (comp. Livy, xxxvii, 39 ; Pliny, vi, 22 ; Polybius, v, 53). Military' elephants were accus- tomed to carry on their backs a wooden tower (Pliny, viii, 7 ; Philostr. ApoU. ii, G ; Juvenal, xii, 110 ; Livy, xxxvii, 40), in which were a number of soldiers (four in the Syrian army of Antiochus the Great, according to Liv}', 1. c. ; according to Philostr. Apoll. ii, 12, about ten to fifteen; in India only three, /Elian, Anim. xiii, 19 ; comp. Pliny, 1. c. ; certainly not thirtj^-two, as is statail in 1 Mace, vi, 37 : in modern India only four or five persons are placed in the elephant-tower, JIunro, Hist, of War in East India, p. 91 [comp. Schlegel, Ind. Bibl. I, ii, 17G ; Bochart, i, 262 ; and see Wernsdorf, De fide Mucc. p. 119 sq.], although an elephant can easily travel with 4000 pounds on his back) ; and their courage was artificially stimulated by wine (/Elian, Anim. xiii, 8; on the fondness of these animals for spirituous drinks, see Thevenot, Voyage, iii, 89). This illustrates 3 Mace, v, 2 ; also 1 Mace, vi, .34. Each equipped elephant was surrounded in battle bj' more than a hundred soldiers, to protect him on the side (1 Blacc. vi, 35 sq.), and thus were these animals conve- nientl}' distributed along the whole line (1 Mace, vi, 35 ; comp. Livy, xxxvii, 40 ; Curtius, viii, 12, 7). Oc- casionalI_y, however, the elephant, becoming frighten- ed, did his master more harm than the enemv (Curtius, iii, 13, 15; viii, 14, 16; ix, 2, 20). The driver of a single armed elephant was called 'IvSoc, i. e. an Indian (1 Mace, vi, 37), while the commander of a battalion of such was stj'led i\i(pavruQx>]Ci ^^i elephantarch (2 Mace, xiv, 12 ; 3 Mace, v, 4). See generalljr Bochart, Ilienz. i, 233 sq. ; Schlegel, Tndische Biblioikek, I, ii, 129 sq. ; Armandi, Ilistoire militaire des eUjihants (Par. 1844) ; Oken, Lehrl. der Naturgesch. Ill, ii, 783 sq. ; Tavernier, Voyage, ii, 72 sq. ; Phil. a. S. Trinitate, Reisebeschr. p. 886 sq. ; fig. in Schreber's Sdugethiere, vi, pi. 317.
The elephant's tusks, growing from the upper jaw (Aristotle, Anim. ii, 4; /Elian, Anim. xi, 37), which the ancients sometimes mistook for horns (/Elian, An'im. iv, 31 ; vii, 2 ; xi, 37 ; Pausan. v, 12, 1 ; Plinj', viii, 4 ; xviii, 1 ; Philostr. Apoll, ii, 13 ; perhaps the ■)■;: m3"lp of Ezek. xxvii, 15 ; comp. Ludolf, Hist. yEthiop. i, 10, 29 ; but see Hilvernick, in loc.) or ivory (Qiinrj, or simply ",'J ; comp. Pott, in the Zeitschr. f. Morgenl. IV, i, 13 sq.), much earlier known in Asia Minor and Europe than the animal itself, were used by the Hebrews from the time of Solomon for orna- menting (overlaying, Pliny, xvi, 84) furniture (espe- cially the divan, Amos vi, 4 ; Philo, Oirp. ii, 478 ;— 1 Kings X, 18 ; Apulej. Metam. ii, p. 37, ed. Bip.) and chambers (1 Kings xx, 39 ; Amos iii, 15 ; Psa. xlv, 9 ; comp. Homer, Odyss. iv, 73 ; Diod. Sic. iii, 47 ; Pausan. i, 12, 4; Petron. 135 ; Horace, Od. ii, 18, 1 ; Lucan, x, 119; Herodian, iv, 2, 3; iElian, Vur. Hist, xii, 39; Avion. 1200), also weapons (Curtius, viii, 5, 1). Like- wise vessels and images of the gods (Pausan. v, 12, 1 ; ii, 17, 4; Virgil, Georg. i, 480; Pliny, xxxvi, 4; comp. Hermann, Ad Liician. conscrib. hist. p. 30,3) were con- structed of it (Rev. xviii, 12) ; while the Tyrians, who disposed of ivory as an article of commerce (Ezek.