So BadAncient's stuff is generally excellent, but I actually have more than a quibble with this one - the question being if elephants were given wine before battle. The main point, that the source testimony on this in Greek is very thin is fair...https://twitter.com/AncientWorldMag/status/1389938010440015876 …
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...concoction before battle in India as well. The issue here is musth, something oddly left unmentioned in the article, because it is central here. Adult male elephants enter a state called musth once a year where they are more focused on mating but also MUCH more aggressive.
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Musth is an easily observable state because elephants discharge temporin from ducts on either side of their head during musth - you can *see* if an elephant is in this state. Trautmann (2015) compiles quite a few examples where these secretions...
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...are associated with war elephants in an ideal state for battle; the aggression was prized even though it made the elephants extremely difficult to handle. It is thus little surprise that there is evidence for the use of diet, training and even intoxication...
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...to try to induce this state (as an aside, 'musth' itself derives from an Urdu word meaning 'drunk' so the association with intoxication is in the etymology). So I suppose here I find the possibility of efforts to induce musth chemically at least plausible...
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...and it fits with an apparent stated preference in Indian armies to attack with elephants in musth when possible. What I do not think we know is if any of these concoctions actually worked to induce musth, though given that the state is visible, maybe?
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In any event, this is a claim that I think I'd move from 'False' to at least the
shrug-emoji of 'we don't really know.' I get the impression of implausibility, but there does seem to be evidence for similar practices in India.https://www.badancient.com/claims/drunk-war-elephants/ …Näytä tämä ketju -
All of this, I should note, is from T. Trautmann, Elephants and Kings (2015). You can read my broader thoughts on the purpose and social place of war elephants here:https://acoup.blog/2019/07/26/collections-war-elephants-part-i-battle-pachyderms/ …
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