فيلة الحرب في الجيش الساساني

War Elephants in the Sassanian army

This study is concerned with an important category of the Sassanian army, namely the type of war elephants, which were not only used by the Sassanid army, but were present in most of the armies that preceded them, as this topic has military and historical importance, in addition to being interesting and interesting, due to its respected position. That these animals were enjoyed by the kings of the Sassanid state, and because of its great importance in resolving many of the battles that the Sassanid state fought against its opponents, and that the experience of this weapon aroused terror in their ranks, what we will show in this study is the reason for the importance and status that this important animal obtained , In addition to highlighting its organizations, equipment and staff.
In writing the letter, I followed two approaches, the first being the descriptive approach, as I tried, as much as possible, to draw a clear picture of the kings of the Sassanid state, and their special efforts they made in order to obtain elephants and employ them on the battlefield. The study covered it, especially with regard to the battles that the Sassanid state fought with its enemies, and their use of elephants as a terrifying means for their opponents on the battlefield.
This study was divided into four chapters, the first chapter of which bore the title of the historical roots of the uses of elephants.
As for the second chapter, it was entitled Elephant Weapon in the Ancient Iranian Armies (550 BC -224 AD), and it contained two sections, the first of which was the Elephant Weapon in the Achaemenid Army, and the second included the Elephant Weapon in the Parthian army.
The third chapter is entitled Elephants and the Sassanian kings and their battles against the Romans and the Byzantines, where it was divided into three sections. The first is the Sassanian kings and war elephants, in which we touched upon the efforts made by the kings in order to obtain elephants and include them in their army, and in other aspects such as gifts, treaties, laws and penalties.
As for the second topic, its title was the Roman Sassanid battles (231-343 AD), in which we touched on all the battles that took place between the two parties, in which the Sassanid elephants were used, as they had an effective role in resolving many of them. As for the third topic, the title of the Byzantine Sassanid battles (540- 627 AD), as the two parties fought major and decisive battles between them, in which elephants were used.
The title of the fourth and final chapter was, the role of elephants in the Arab Sassanid battles and their other battles, and in our first section came the role of elephants in the Arab Sassanid conflict, and we mentioned several battles that took place between the two parties, some of them were before Islam and most of them after the emergence of Islam, and the second topic was entitled the role of elephants in battles The other of the Sassanid state, and we explained in it the great role of the elephant weapon in the face of opponents.