Royal Hunting of Elephant in Graeco-Roman Egypt

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Lecturer in Tourist Guidance Department, High Institute of Tourism and Hotels, King Marriott Alexandria.

2 Professor of Greco-Roman Archaeology, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University.

Abstract

The Royal Hunting of Elephant was one of the pursuits starting from pre dynastic until to Graeco-Roman, the hunting was limited to kings and wealthy people only.
Elephant was very important for Egyptians, The elephants appeared in ancient Egyptian texts in different forms for instance and Ḥw
There were three types of elephants African, Indian and Asian , African elephants are rarely trained despite being larger than their Indian counterparts. The purpose of carving the hunting scenes were to show their ability to control chaos and achieve authority over the world in old kingdom and new kingdom.
In Ptolemaic period Alexander the Great's campaign, the Greco-Macedonian soldiers came face to face for the first time with these terrifying monsters “elephants” Later, elephants were also utilized in war by the Successors and later Hellenistic kings, his successors fought among themselves for control of the region he had conquered. Romans continue to use the elephant in their wars.

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