The Elephants and Hannibal

Those poor elephants.  Loyal, faithful, intelligent and generally peace-loving creatures. Incredibly strong - and sensitive. Their pods are ruled by the oldest female.  They would follow the human trainer that they bonded with through hell and high-water.  And, unfortunately for those 37 elephants who accompanied Hannibal on his march through the Alps to conquer Rome, they did just that.

In today's modern era elephants are still herded over the Alps - to raise money for charities. Poor elephants. Who gives a hoot about them?

Not sure how I missed this, but here it is now, from The Times Online:

February 17, 2010
Hannibal’s real Alpine trunk road to Rome is revealed
Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent

. . . What Hannibal, the Carthaginian leader, did in 218BC is well known: “I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome,” he had vowed at the start of the campaign. With Rome poised to attack Carthage across the strait from Sicily, he decided the best way to tackle the Romans was head on.

His army of more than 30,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 37 battle elephants from Morocco marched through the autumn from Spain, which he had taken. When they reached the Alps some of Hannibal’s soldiers died of exposure in the bitter cold, while others fell to their death; only about half of them reached northern Italy.

Argument still rages over where the Alpine crossing took place. While there is general agreement that Hannibal moved up the Rhône from Avignon almost to Valence, from there onwards every valley and pass has had a case made for it being the route across the mountains into the plain of the Po near Turin. In 1959 an elephant called Jumbo was taken over the Col du Clapier by the British Alpine Hannibal Expedition to prove the route’s feasibility. This adventure was immortalised in John Hoyte’s book, Trunk Road for Hannibal. In 1988 the cricketer Ian Botham did the same thing, but with three elephants, in aid of leukaemia charities.  . . .