A detailed taxonomy of wacky elephant drawings
April 2, 2020 8:34 AM Subscribe
Elephas Anthropogenus After the fall of the Roman Empire, elephants virtually disappeared from Western Europe.
Since there was no real knowledge of how this animal actually looked, illustrators had to rely on oral and written transmissions to morphologically reconstruct the elephant, thus reinventing an actual existing creature. This tree diagram traces the evolution of the elephant depiction throughout the middle ages up to the age of enlightenment.
Person that's seen an elephant: "and it's got a nose that's like 3 feet long!"
Artist:: Okay sure buddy. (draws an 8 inch nose)
posted by ian1977 at 9:00 AM on April 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
Artist:
posted by ian1977 at 9:00 AM on April 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
Finally someone is going to mention the elephant in the tome!
posted by pulposus at 9:04 AM on April 2, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by pulposus at 9:04 AM on April 2, 2020 [9 favorites]
Amazing how so many of the artists defaulted to "known animal with variations" - just a lion, deer, pig, or horse with a big snout and tusks.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:16 AM on April 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:16 AM on April 2, 2020 [5 favorites]
This is delightful. I look forward to the day when desktop genetic engineering allows us to realize all of these. Hopefully dog-sized so they can live in our homes.
My most interesting recent elephant trivia questions:
Q: Given within 100 years the date of the arrival of the first elephant in England.
A: 43AD, during the Roman invasion of Britain under Claudius.
Q: Given within 100 years the date of the arrival of the first elephant in England after the year 200AD.
A: 1255AD. Louis IX of France gifted it to Henry III of England, after which it lived in the Tower of London.
posted by eotvos at 9:19 AM on April 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
My most interesting recent elephant trivia questions:
Q: Given within 100 years the date of the arrival of the first elephant in England.
A: 43AD, during the Roman invasion of Britain under Claudius.
Q: Given within 100 years the date of the arrival of the first elephant in England after the year 200AD.
A: 1255AD. Louis IX of France gifted it to Henry III of England, after which it lived in the Tower of London.
posted by eotvos at 9:19 AM on April 2, 2020 [7 favorites]
Incidentally, Addlepated Elephant is the name of my new band.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:31 AM on April 2, 2020
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:31 AM on April 2, 2020
I'm personally fascinated by the way the lineage around ~1200 managed to devolve into depictions of what looks like quite a good babirusa!
posted by sciatrix at 9:43 AM on April 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by sciatrix at 9:43 AM on April 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
Man, medieval interpretations of animals were wild
posted by Kitchen Witch at 9:54 AM on April 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitchen Witch at 9:54 AM on April 2, 2020 [1 favorite]
1255AD. Louis IX of France gifted it to Henry III of England, after which it lived in the Tower of London.
Fascinating! For more on this, including this intriguing bit:
Fascinating! For more on this, including this intriguing bit:
...after its death in 1257. It was buried in the bailey of the Tower but in 1258 a request was made to dig up its bones and give them to the sacristan of Westminster Abbey ‘for doing with them what the king had instructed him’. Cassidy and Clasby can find no trace in the administrative records of what this might beposted by jedicus at 10:59 AM on April 2, 2020 [3 favorites]
Uli Westphal is a fantastic artist - check out the rest of his work!
posted by growabrain at 11:16 AM on April 2, 2020
posted by growabrain at 11:16 AM on April 2, 2020
That really is fascinating, jedicus!
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Henry III was accused of sorcery by his enemies, and in 1258 he was in deep trouble with the Pope, who was threatening to excommunicate him, and his barons, who were demanding more power in exchange for coming up with the money Henry needed to keep the Pope from following through, and effectively lost control of the government in that year as well.
It would be kind of surprising if those bones weren't the axis of those accusations of sorcery.
posted by jamjam at 2:56 PM on April 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Henry III was accused of sorcery by his enemies, and in 1258 he was in deep trouble with the Pope, who was threatening to excommunicate him, and his barons, who were demanding more power in exchange for coming up with the money Henry needed to keep the Pope from following through, and effectively lost control of the government in that year as well.
It would be kind of surprising if those bones weren't the axis of those accusations of sorcery.
posted by jamjam at 2:56 PM on April 2, 2020 [2 favorites]
Sorry to be that person but... previously
I loved this the first time and loved it the second too! It's like playing telephone with drawings of elephants
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:53 AM on April 3, 2020
I loved this the first time and loved it the second too! It's like playing telephone with drawings of elephants
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:53 AM on April 3, 2020
Some of the early ones are quite good. Some of the later ones are surprisingly bad.
Was there no one on-scene, as it were, who was capable of producing a *drawing* rather than a description?
posted by Belostomatidae at 5:54 AM on April 3, 2020
Was there no one on-scene, as it were, who was capable of producing a *drawing* rather than a description?
posted by Belostomatidae at 5:54 AM on April 3, 2020
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posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:58 AM on April 2, 2020 [3 favorites]