▲ 161 r/AskHistorians
What happened to the numerous elephants that were inevitably left behind after campaigns during the Punic wars, Diadocchi Wars, etc. That found themselves out of place in an unfamiliar part of the world?
I've always wondered that there must have been hundreds if not thousands or more of Asian and African elephants that were left behind in Greece, Anatolia, Spain, Italy, the Levant, Sicily, etc after the aforementioned wars and many others. And yet now we see no elephant populations in those areas. Did they eventually just die off in foreign lands? Were they recaptured and reused by other armies? Or was there another reason for their absence and lack of text describing their presence after so many had been left to their own devices in these strange lands after battles and failed attacks?
u/CandidYogurtcloset90 — 7 days ago