Image Details
Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum
Hunted to extinction by people seeking the valuable ivory tusks, this subspecies of elephant probably once roamed the region near Egypt. Portrayed on the Black Obelisk, a ninth-century B.C. panel depicting the submission of several rulers to Shalmaneser III, the elephant shown here was a gift from the king of Musri (an area either in Egypt or northwest of Assyria) to the conquering Assyrian ruler.