An Elephant for Aristotle

POSTSCRIPT

The following persons appearing or mentioned in this story were real persons; alternative forms of their names arc given in parentheses: Aboulites, Agathon, Agis, Aischylos (Aeschylus), Alexander (Alexandras), Alexarchos, Anaximandros (Anaximander), Antigonos, Anti-patros (Antipater), Apollodoros, Archelaos, Aristoteles (Aristotle), Arivarates (Ariarathcs, Ariwarat, the name of two kings), Artaxerxes (Ardashir, Artakhshathra, Artaxsacah, the name of three kings), Asan-dros (Asander), Baiton, Bas, Boupares, Charidemos, Dareios (Dara-yavaus, Darius, the name of three kings), Dareios (banker), Deinok-rates, Demetrios, Demosthenes, Eumenes, Euripides, Harpalos, He-phaistion, Herakleides, Kalas, Kallikratcs, Kallisthenes, Kephisodotos, Kratcros, Kroisos (Croesus), Kyros (Cyrus, Kurus, the name of a king and a pretender), Masdais (Mazaeus, Mazdai), Masdaros (Mazarus), Menes (Manis), Menon, Nabarzanes, Naboukodreusor (Nebuchadnezzar, Naboukodonosoros, Nabu-kudurri-ushur), Nikomachos, Om-bis (Omphis, Ambhi), Oneskritos, Pamphylios, Peithagoras, Philip (Philippos, king), Philippos (brother of Harpalos), Philokles, Phi-loxenos, Phokion, Phratapharnas (Fratafarnah, Phratapherncs), Phra-shavartes (Frasavartis, Phrasaortes), Platon (Plato, Aristokles), Poly-kleitos, Poros (Puru), Praxiteles, Psammon, Ptolemaios (Ptolemaeus, Ptolemy), Pyrraios (Pyrrhaeus), Pyrron (Pyrrho), Pythagoras, Sabik-tas (Sabistamenes), Sangaios (Sangaeus), Sasigouptas (Sasigupta, Sisicottus), Seleukos (Seleucus), Sokrates, Sophokles, Stamenes (Stamanis), Stasanor, Theophrastos (Tyrtamos), Thimbron, Tissa-phernes (Chithrafarna, Cicafamah), Vaukas (Ochos, Vahaukah), Vaxathras (Oxathres, VaxsaSrah), Vaxouvartas (Oxyartes, Vaxsuvar-tah), Xenokratcs, Xerxes (Khshayarsha, Xsayarsah, the name of two kings),Zarathoushtras (Zarathustra,ZaraSustrah,Zardusht,Zoroaster), Zenophilos. So were a number of well-known characters from earlier times, such as Thales and Solon, mentioned by the people in the story.

It is not known whether Alexander really sent an elephant to Aristotle, but he may well have. It is known that he gave subsidies (including the gift to Xenokrates) to various philosophers, that Kal-listhenes sent astronomical data to Aristotle from Babylon, and that Aristotle wrote an accurate description of an elephant that reads as if he had seen one. The story is based on the strong possibility that Alexander did send an elephant.

Approximate modern equivalents of weights and measures mentioned in the story are as follows:

Pound (mna)

1.1 pounds

Talent (talanton)

66 pounds

Finger (daktylos)

34 inch

Palm (palaiste)

3 inches

Foot (pous)

i foot

Cubit (p&chys)

18 inches

Pace (bema)

30 inches

Plethron

100 feet; 10,000 square feet

Furlong (stadion)

Ms mile

League (parasange)

3.5 miles

Quart (choinix)

1 (dry) quart

Medimnos

1.5 bushels

Attic units of weight were less than the Babylonian units used in the Persian and Alexandrine empires. The Attic pound = .95 English pounds.

In money, 8 chalkoi ("coppers") = 1 obolos; 6 oboloi = 1 drachma; 100 drachmai = 1 mna ("pound"); 60 mnai = 1 talent of silver. All these units were originally weights of silver, not coins; the mna and talent were never coins. There were about fifteen common denominations of bronze and silver coins, ranging up to the dekadrachmon (ten drachmai) more than half again as heavy as a silver dollar. The commonest larger silver coins were the drachma (about the size of a dime but heavier) and the tetradrachmon (four drachmai, about the size of a half dollar). The Athenian drachma was called an "owl" from the design on the reverse. The drachma's purchasing power was equivalent to several dollars, though exact comparisons are impossible because we have so many things to spend our money on that did not exist in ancient times. The main golden coins were the Persian daric (dareikos) and the stater, worth about twenty-three and twenty-eight drachmai respectively, though the ratio fluctuated.

In Leon's time, most Greek cavalry was organized in troops, each troop (He) comprising about fifty to seventy-five men. Typically, two troops made a squadron (telos); two squadrons a battalion (taxis); two battalions a regiment (tagma); and two regiments a brigade (phyle).

However, as with measures and coinage, the sizes and names of the units varied widely from time to time and place to place. Hipparchia was a general term for a cavalry command, unit, or detachment. All horses except the Median cavalry chargers were mere ponies by modern standards, and neither stirrups nor horseshoes existed.

The Attic year, used by Leon, began on the day of the first new moon following the summer solstice; hence it might begin any day from June 23 to July 22. The exact date of the battle of the Hydaspes, which opens the story, is not known, but it took place in the spring or early summer of 326 b.c.

Leon's "mountain mouse" is the bobac or Asiatic marmot, a cousin of our woodchuck. His "unicorn" is the Indian rhinoceros. His "tree wool" and "tree grass" are cotton and bamboo respectively. The "Chat-tians" are the Hittites.

Some peculiarities of Leon's spelling of foreign names may be noted. Unlike most Greeks, he distinguishes between b- and v-sounds, spelling the former with beta and the latter with the obsolete digamma (F) which was used in writing dialects though it had long disappeared from standard Attic. He uses the obsolete san (P) to indicate the common sfr-sounds of Asiatic tongues, though not consistently. Another idiosyncrasy is his indication of h-sounds in the middle of foreign names, like Daha. This too, was not done in standard Attic, but was in some Greek dialects.