09-14-2007, 02:42 AM
Here's a rather late episode :
According to Dio [74.16] he mentions that Didius Julianus tried to make use of the circus elephants to oppose Septimius Severus. But "the elephants found the towers oppressive and so would not even carry their drivers any longer [but threw them off also]. "
The HA depicts Julianus as a man with some military ability when it came to repelling barbarians from his provinces as a Praetor.
Granted : it had been hundreds of years since the Romans last used elephants. And, yes, these were circus-trained and therefore (I assume) unsuitable to retrain as beasts of war.
~Theo
According to Dio [74.16] he mentions that Didius Julianus tried to make use of the circus elephants to oppose Septimius Severus. But "the elephants found the towers oppressive and so would not even carry their drivers any longer [but threw them off also]. "
Quote:The big animals were only useful if the commander knew how to use them, and generals appear to have been extremely inapt in the use of elephants.
The HA depicts Julianus as a man with some military ability when it came to repelling barbarians from his provinces as a Praetor.
Granted : it had been hundreds of years since the Romans last used elephants. And, yes, these were circus-trained and therefore (I assume) unsuitable to retrain as beasts of war.
~Theo
Jaime
