The Elephants of Aksum: In Search of the Bush Elephant in Late Antiquity

Contrary to the prevailing scholarly view, the Aksumite kingdom's use of elephants was not primarily military but centered on regal display and power symbolism. A re-evaluation of Arab and Byzantine sources reveals that the Aksumites favored the larger bush elephant over the smaller forest elephant, leveraging its significance in the late antique ivory trade to bolster their strategic position. This challenges traditional assumptions about the role of elephants in Aksumite society and underscores their cultural and economic importance beyond warfare.

Charles, M. (2018). The Elephants of Aksum: In Search of the Bush Elephant in Late Antiquity. Journal of Late Antiquity, 11(1), 166–192. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2018.0000