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Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

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Re: Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

#11

Post by nomel »

johnea wrote: post #3

> a longstanding association of elephants and alcohol in popular thought What? the hell? Maybe not watching television for over 20 years has left me more out of touch with "popular thought" than I realized...

When I was a kid, animal documentaries usually had a little bit on animals getting drunk from fermented fruit laying on the ground. Drunk elephants were often the highlight, because a stumbling, drunk, elephant is pretty entertaining to watch (although their legal drinking age seems to be MUCH lower than with human societies!).

Re: Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

#12

Post by api »

Hayvok wrote: post #10

> This article assesses whether Hellenistic war-elephants were given alcohol before battle…Unfortunately, despite the recent rise in scholarly interest on war-elephants, this issue remains overlooked. This is the best abstract ever.

I assumed this was going to be about how drunk you’d have to get to ride an elephant into battle.

Re: Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

#13

Post by mr_toad »

api wrote: post #12
Hayvok wrote: post #10

> This article assesses whether Hellenistic war-elephants were given alcohol before battle…Unfortunately, despite the recent rise in scholarly interest on war-elephants, this issue remains overlooked. This is the best abstract ever.

I assumed this was going to be about how drunk you’d have to get to ride an elephant into battle.

Or to stand in the way of one.

Re: Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

#15

Post by morshu9001 »

johnea wrote: post #3

> a longstanding association of elephants and alcohol in popular thought What? the hell? Maybe not watching television for over 20 years has left me more out of touch with "popular thought" than I realized...

Maybe the Delirium Tremens beer brand from Belgium?

Re: Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

#19

Post by HansardExpert »

jghn wrote: post #9
johnea wrote: post #3

> a longstanding association of elephants and alcohol in popular thought What? the hell? Maybe not watching television for over 20 years has left me more out of touch with "popular thought" than I realized...

I remember my grandma doing a drunken "dance of the pink elephants", whatever that is, in the mid-70s. This has been a thing for a while

It's from the Disney classic 'Dumbo'.

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Pink_Elephants

Re: Hellenistic War-Elephants and the Use of Alcohol Before Battle

#20

Post by pkphilip »

iamshs wrote: post #8
alephnerd wrote: post #2

This article overreads into the meaning of mast and matta . Mast just means overstimulated/excited, and in the context of an elephant would be the equivalent of using the word "spooked" but with a humorous ting to it. Indian epics like the Mahabharat and Ramayan were not written as historical treatise but also as entertainment. The same way how Homer uses titillating speech in the Illiad or how Ferdowsi added out-of-…

[flagged]

Dharmic faiths usually does not mean a reference to caste - it just means Hinduism and religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc.

Many temples in India do not allow people from other faiths to enter. Actually more and more temples are imposing those restrictions.

About the issue of caste discrimination, that remains a big problem. Many temples do not allow lower castes entry even now.

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