War elephants were used in Iranian military history, most notably in Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Sasanian periods. These were Asian elephants recruited from the southern provinces of Iran [citation needed] and India, but also possibly Syrian elephants from Syria and western Iran.

Until the advent of Islam in the 7th century, the Sasanian army in the field was regularly accompanied by elephants, although the preceding Parthian dynasty did not appear to deploy elephants in warfare.

A war elephant is an elephant that is trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant-mounted troops. [1]

Mar 13, 2020 · Rapid charges by the lance-armed savaran accompanied by war elephants (whose archers discharged volleys of missiles) had undermined the cohesion of Taghti’s forces. Taghti himself was killed fighting a Sassanian battle elephant.

A medieval Armenian miniature representing the Sasanian War elephants in the Battle of Vartanantz. The backbone of the Spâh in the Sasanian era was its heavy armoured cavalry, known since Classical antiquity in the west as Cataphracts .

In this article, an overview of the Sassanian use of elephants will be provided, with particular emphasis placed on their rôle in the Persian wars of the fourth century A.D., especially Julian’s failed campaign.

Two sets of textual evidence for the use of elephants by the Sasanians are dated to the third century AD. Both literary sources are suspect, but come from divergent traditions. Ardaxšīr (Ardashir) Pābagān, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, is mentioned as having used war elephants against the Romans under Severus Alexander.

Jun 29, 2022 · In 451 in the battle of Avarayr fought against the Armenians, there appear to have been war elephants in the frontline and an elephant baggage train directly behind the army. In 551 Mermeroes appears to have used elephants to build a road through precipitous and densely forested terrain in Lazica.

Dec 31, 2024 · This article considers when elephants were first incorporated into the Sassanian army, why they were thought necessary, their deployment and equipment during the period in question, and the degree to which the Sassanian way of elephant warfare differed from that of neighbouring peoples.

A medieval Armenian miniature representing the Sassanid Persians War elephants in the Battle of Vartanantz. Persians used war elephants at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. The battle raged between king Alexander the Great of Macedon and king Darius III of Persia .