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[-] inlandempire@jlai.lu 35 points 2 weeks ago

There's a city in France (Chambery) in honour of the Indian Maratha with four elephants surrounding a fountain, they only have the front sculpted so they're called "les quatre sans cul": the four without ass because the sculptor apparently didn't know their anatomy

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

Is that actually true or just an urban legend? Full elephants would make the sculpture HUGE, it'd take up so much space

[-] inlandempire@jlai.lu 3 points 2 weeks ago
[-] glimse@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

Sorry, I meant the claim that the sculptor not knowing how to make the back half. I definitely believe you on the name! That wiki page isn't available in English but I translated it and only found this:

The legend[Which?] says that this square is made up of four elephants without backs since its sculptor did not know how to do the back says the "ass" of the elephants. This is what would have given the name of the 4 without asses.

I read about the construction elsewhere and only having the fronts seemed deliberate

[-] inlandempire@jlai.lu 10 points 2 weeks ago

Oh right, yeah that one is probably gossip haha

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I love a good urban legend

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago

It'd be pretty easy to guess, honestly. Just saying "a lot like a cow, with legs like in the front" would cover it for sculptural purposes - the flattish tail being an excusable detail.

Medieval artists did a lot of this, although sometimes the results were less than perfect:

[-] four@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

Damn, people really demand fully modeled elephant sculptures?

[-] inlandempire@jlai.lu 4 points 2 weeks ago

Of course, it's France after all 😝

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 26 points 2 weeks ago

War elephants in England..?

[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

β€œSo?”

β€œSo, war elephants are tropical. This is temperate zone.”

[-] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago
[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago
[-] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

The elephant could be carried. A C-123K could drop the elephant in a large crate with a parachute attached

[-] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

Sea turtles, mate

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[-] FishFace@piefed.social 13 points 2 weeks ago

Wikipedia calls it doubtful, though there are sources which say it happened. I'm curious about Denmark though!

[-] MBech@feddit.dk 4 points 2 weeks ago

Looks like Denmark is grey.

[-] FishFace@piefed.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

Northern Denmark, yes, but some of the coloured bit is Southern Denmark.

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 17 points 2 weeks ago

Elephants in northern Denmark? Ridiculous!

Southern Denmark though? Elephant central.

[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago

That's Roman Britain so it is probably glazing the territories held by the Roman Empire. This is likely a map of areas that were ruled by an entity that used war elephants.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

No, Claudius actually boated them over to scare the locals into shape. Or reputedly so.

[-] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

"Shit, this isn't the tube stop I was hoping for"

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

Roman Emperor Claudius, so the story goes. If it did happen, it might have been for show rather than because it was really practical for warfare.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 0 points 2 weeks ago

maybe war mastadon in prehistoric times.

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

Where war elephants were used so far

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Grey is "yet to be used upon" let's be real

[-] Cassa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 weeks ago

You can help by expanding this list!

[-] optissima@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago

Now do middleearth

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 6 points 2 weeks ago

I wish Lincoln accepted that set to fight in the Civil War.

[-] darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 weeks ago
[-] KurtVonnegut@mander.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago
[-] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

US-ian here, yes please

[-] arrow74@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago

Are you saying we need to use war elephants to invade New Zealand?

[-] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 weeks ago

There's a story of a logistical miracle right here... πŸ™†πŸΌβ€β™‚οΈπŸ€”

[-] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Those islands used to be connected ~2 million years ago, and thus all have native elephant populations.

[-] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Oh wow! I had no idea! 🀩

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yep.

Although any reasonably large cargo boat should be able to carry an elephant, anyway. That would be how the Romans did it in Britain.

Edit: Maybe? Apparently the only source on that episode is from much later.

[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

My guesses are: the Majapahits used war elephants at some point in the 14th century, or a British puppet used them in the 1800s.

[-] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Apparently, not very well, though. Poor olifants. πŸ™†πŸΌβ€β™‚οΈ

[-] NachBarcelona@piefed.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

poor phanties 😭

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

in age of empires, i would mass build them all the time. after using the "trade market trick"

[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

How did they get to the islands

[-] painteddoggie@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago
[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago
[-] remon@ani.social 2 points 2 weeks ago
[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago

But elephant big. Trireme small.

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 weeks ago
[-] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

XIII? Or possible earlier?

EDIT: I'm reading this article. Look what you made me do! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_maritime_history

[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I am curious, is the Yellow in South Arabia in reference to Year of the Elephant or is that seen as not credible and there was a whole different Elephant event in that region I never knew about?

this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2026
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