Elephas (ancient)
Elephas (Ancient Greek: Ἐλέφας; "Elephant") was the name of a coastal mountain or cape on the Horn of Africa that appears in the geographical works of Strabo, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and Ptolemy. A different mountain of the same name also appears in a legendary account set in ancient India in Pseudo-Plutarch.
Africa
[edit source]According to Strabo, Mount Elephas was a mountain projecting into the sea. It was followed by a creek, the large harbour of Psygmus, the watering place of Cynocephali, and the promontory Notu ceras (Νότου κέρας; "Southern Horn").[1] Strabo also states that the surrounding country abounded in elephants, lions, leopards, and rhinoceroses, and records Artemidorus' account that rhinoceroses fought elephants for grazing grounds.[2]
In the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, sailors traveling beyond Mosyllum reached the Little Nile River, a fine spring, a small laurel grove and Cape Elephas. Nearby was the Elephant River and the large laurel grove of Acanna, where the finest and most abundant "far-side" frankincense was produced. Beyond Cape Elephas lay the Emporion and Cape of Spices (Ἀρωμάτων ἐμπόριον καὶ ἀκρωτήριον).[3]
In Ptolemy's Geography, Elephas Mountain is listed between the Emporia of Kobe and Akkannai on the coast of the Avalite Bay. Ptolemy also states that the coast from the Arabian Gulf to Elephas Mountain was known as Troglodytike, while the coast beyond it as far as Rhapton Promontory was called Azania.[4] He additionally records another Elephas Mountain in the interior of Ethiopia, east of the Nile.[5]
India
[edit source]A different Mount Elephas appears in Pseudo-Plutarch's Names of Rivers and Mountains in India. According to tradition, the mountain's name originated from a legendary event. During Alexander the Great's campaign in India, King Porus's elephant was stung by a gadfly and ran to the summit of the "Mountain of the Sun". There, it spoke in a human voice, urging Porus not to oppose Alexander because he was descended from Zeus, before dying. After this, Porus made peace with Alexander and named the mountain Elephas (Greek for "elephant") in honor of the animal.[6]