People of The Elephant - But Who?
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maxq wrote
Hi thegod,hi maxq! -)
you can check out "History of Warfare" by John Keegan...
yups bro...i did find the reference...but i appreciate ur pointing it out to me! -)
Elephants were considered a symbol of power and might, and hence you can see epigraphy of battles with a special focus on elephants used in war. There is no such indication in Abraha's inscription, and this alone is a major indicator that he did/could not use elephants even if he wanted to. Simply put, here's a guy who is boasting about his expedition Why would he have not mentioned elephants if he used them?
to be honest...i am least interested in abraha at the moment...he can wait! -)
...what i am interested in, are the conclusions, which i believe were atleast somewhat influenced by the list! -)
to believe that no incident, as described by arab historians/traditions, took place, v would need conclusive evidence that indeed did no such incident take place! else it is simply a matter of preferring one history over another! -)
....if v take the list, drawn from keegan's book as that evidence, or part of evidence, v would need to assume that he was able to get the entire "notable" history of the last 2300+ years...and get it right...which, i think u may agree, is a tall order! -)
at the very best, v can only assume that his list is accurate and exhaustive...and assumptions are, atleast for me, never the best approach, unless for the sake of hypothesis! -)
....so what v have here, is a situation where v work on an assumption that his list of "notable battles" is worthy of being admitted as influential material! -)
as for keegan, in atleast some part of his research, he is seen by some (other historians) as biased, unreliable and inaccurate! the referenced book itself is not popular for reasons which u might want to look up! -)
...also, his views on the "westerners" and "orientals" might be of interest! -S
to sum it up, v have little or no reason to believe the list is reliable as a reference! -)
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Dr. Ayman raised a very good point in his email to me. If we trace the path of Abraha's expedition according to the inscription, he completely avoided the path to Mecca, and probably never even bothered to visit the city/settlement/village, whatever it may have been called before it was called Mecca... That would be a really scary thought for a traditionalist!
Indeed it would, I hope you get some comments in your blog by some extremely irate traditionalists that you can then share with us
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Oh, what I am trying to say is that a possible route is through the sea whereby Elephants can be transported in ships more easily than having dragged their behinds through the desert lol ) I am just considering the alternatives a military leader would be ready to undertake for an expedition.
Mecca is about 80km away from the Red Sea so logically, one could have considered transporting elephants in ships from the Yameni coast to the coast nearest Mecca. Practicality is another issue.
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maxq wrote
Oh, what I am trying to say is that a possible route is through the sea whereby Elephants can be transported in ships more easily than having dragged their behinds through the desert lol I am just considering the alternatives a military leader would be ready to undertake for an expedition.oh ok...trying to think like a military leader...cool! -)
Mecca is about 80km away from the Red Sea so logically, one could have considered transporting elephants in ships from the Yameni coast to the coast nearest Mecca. Practicality is another issue.
no idea! -)