Elephant forests of the Classical Mediterranean

Abstract

During the Hellenistic period technical and practical knowledge concerning elephants and their behaviour was transferred from an Indian context to a Mediterranean one. Scholars generally agree on that description of events, but the overarching thesis must now be bolstered with specific examples. This essay argues that the administration of elephant forests by governments of northwest India, evinced in the Mauryan inscriptions and the political treatise the Arthaśāstra, was the model for the domestication and conservation of the elephant herds of the Mediterranean. This system allowed for a relatively quick addition of animals to armies, and sufficient space for the large mammals.