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
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
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:
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.
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?
47 Comments
inlandempire@jlai.lu · 35 pts · 231d
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 pts · 231d
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 pts · 231d
It's real https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontaine_des_%C3%89l%C3%A9phants
glimse@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 231d
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:
I read about the construction elsewhere and only having the fronts seemed deliberate
inlandempire@jlai.lu · 10 pts · 231d
Oh right, yeah that one is probably gossip haha
glimse@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 231d
I love a good urban legend
CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org · 2 pts · 229d
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 pts · 231d
Damn, people really demand fully modeled elephant sculptures?
inlandempire@jlai.lu · 4 pts · 231d
Of course, it's France after all 😝
smeg@feddit.uk · 25 pts · 231d
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 231d
“So?”
“So, war elephants are tropical. This is temperate zone.”
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 231d
Perhaps they migrated
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 231d
With coconuts‽‽
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 231d
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 pts · 231d
Sea turtles, mate
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 230d
mammoths probably
FishFace@piefed.social · 12 pts · 231d
Wikipedia calls it doubtful, though there are sources which say it happened. I'm curious about Denmark though!
MBech@feddit.dk · 4 pts · 231d
Looks like Denmark is grey.
FishFace@piefed.social · 6 pts · 231d
Northern Denmark, yes, but some of the coloured bit is Southern Denmark.
smeg@feddit.uk · 18 pts · 231d
ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 230d
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 pts · 229d
No, Claudius actually boated them over to scare the locals into shape. Or reputedly so.
neidu3@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 231d
"Shit, this isn't the tube stop I was hoping for"
CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org · 2 pts · 229d
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 pts · 230d
maybe war mastadon in prehistoric times.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 231d
Where war elephants were used so far
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 230d
Grey is "yet to be used upon" let's be real
Cassa@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 231d
You can help by expanding this list!
optissima@lemmy.ml · 9 pts · 231d
Now do middleearth
darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 231d
KurtVonnegut@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 231d
#MapsWithoutAmericas
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
US-ian here, yes please
arrow74@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 231d
Are you saying we need to use war elephants to invade New Zealand?
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 6 pts · 231d
I wish Lincoln accepted that set to fight in the Civil War.
otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 230d
There's a story of a logistical miracle right here... 🙆🏼♂️🤔
piccolo@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 229d
Those islands used to be connected ~2 million years ago, and thus all have native elephant populations.
otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 229d
Oh wow! I had no idea! 🤩
CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 229d
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 pts · 230d
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 pts · 229d
Apparently, not very well, though. Poor olifants. 🙆🏼♂️
NachBarcelona@piefed.social · 4 pts · 231d
poor phanties 😭
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 230d
in age of empires, i would mass build them all the time. after using the "trade market trick"
halfapage@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 231d
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 231d
How did they get to the islands
painteddoggie@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 231d
Elephants love to swim!
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 230d
No. Way!
remon@ani.social · 2 pts · 231d
On ships.
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 230d
But elephant big. Trireme small.
nokturne213@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 230d
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 230d
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 pts · 229d
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?