Hello,
There’s something that’s been fascinating me for a while, but on which I can’t find much information.
On some ancient coins, such as the tetradrachm of Alexandria during Nero’s reign, or of Bactria under Demetrios I’s rule, and the semis of Numidia, busts wearing an “elephant skin headdress” can be found. But does anyone know if such headdress existed back then, or if the coin’s depiction was simply symbolistic? I doubt it would look like that in real life, considering how big an elephant’s head can be...
The elefant headdress on the Alexander the Great coins symbolize that his conquering reached parts of India. It also symbolises the strength of having war elephants in their army. But as far as I know, there isn't any proof that there were any actual headdresses from elephant skin.
I may be wrong though!
Referee for Ancient Greece, Norway and the Kingdom of Cyprus
Hm, that’s interesting – makes a lot of sense, too! I see that these coins that depict the headdress come from “exotic” places (where there must be elephants, at least), all definitely under Greco-Roman influence, but still can’t quite grasp what they really have in common, or where this concept originated, since they are pretty much scattered all over from Egypt to India. If such headdress didn’t actually exist in antiquity, I might find it even more interesting. It isn’t quite like the lion headdress of Hercules, after all!
