THE ELEPHANT WHICH WAS HONOURED BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Day 4,362, 09:11 • Published in USA USA • by Dionysos Zagreas

Alexander the Great and his army fought the Indian army of King Porus at the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great. Plutarch writes about the battle at his work Parallel Lives, "Life of Alexander". The Indian King Ambhi (Greeks called him Taxiles in their scripts) supported Alexander with his forces. Philostratus the Elder ,in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, writes that in the army of Porus there was an elephant who fought bravely against Alexander's army and Alexander dedicated it to the Helios (Sun) and named it Ajax, because he thought that such a great animal deserved a great name. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on them written in Greek: "Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to the Helios". (ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ο ΔΙΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΙΑΝΤΑ ΤΩΙ ΗΛΙΩΙ).