The First White Elephant Gift
October 8, 2006 1:49 PM Subscribe
Around A.D. 800, the storied Caliph Haroun Al-Raschid sent a diplomatic delegation some two thousand miles from Baghdad to Aachen, the seat of Charlemagne's empire. Among the many gifts for the Frankish ruler that accompanied the delegation was Abul-Abbas, the first recorded elephant north of the Alps.
Brings to mind another gift animal's trek north --
Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris. It was a gift from Muhammad Ali, the "Renaissance Barbarian" viceroy of Egypt to King Charles X in 1827.
posted by ericb at 2:21 PM on October 8, 2006
Zarafa: A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris. It was a gift from Muhammad Ali, the "Renaissance Barbarian" viceroy of Egypt to King Charles X in 1827.
posted by ericb at 2:21 PM on October 8, 2006
Far and away the best of the elephant posts. Thank you, Iridic.
posted by saladin at 5:41 PM on October 8, 2006
posted by saladin at 5:41 PM on October 8, 2006
Huh? I suppose that Hannibal's elephants were only West of the Alps. But they were still transalpine.
posted by alloneword at 7:10 AM on October 9, 2006
posted by alloneword at 7:10 AM on October 9, 2006
« Older Prehistoric Elephants in the Young Republic | Sunday Flash Fun with Elephants Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by LarryC at 2:14 PM on October 8, 2006