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Elephant — We learn from Assyrian inscriptions that before the Hebrews settled in Syria, there existed elephants in that country, and Tiglath-Pileser I tells us about his exploits in elephant hunting. We do not read, however, of elephants in the Bible until the Maccabean times. True, III Kings (1Ki 10:18, 22; 1Ki 22:39) speaks of ivory, or "[elephants'] teeth", as the Hebrew text puts it, yet not as indigenous, but as imported from Ophir. In the post-exilian times, especially in the books of the Maccabees, elephants are frequently mentioned; they were an important element in the armies of the Seleucids. These animals were imported either from India or from Africa.
