Hebrew hero Eleazar Maccabee lies under an outlandish war elephant bearing a wooden castle manned by medieval soldiers - at the Battle of Beth Zechariah in 162 BC. Late Gothic fresco in ceiling vault of medieval cathedral cloister of the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta at Bressanone-Brixen, South Tyrol, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy.
Bressanone-Brixen, South Tyrol, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: an outlandish war elephant depicted with tapering legs, fluted ears, tiny tusks and a trunk with a bell-shaped end by a medieval painter who can never have seen an elephant. The bizarre pachyderm is saddled with wooden castle manned by soldiers in medieval suits of armour - despite the 162 BC Battle of Beth Zechariah it depicts being fought at least 1,500 years earlier. The biblical battle scene is painted in the ceiling vault of the medieval cloister adjoining Bressanone’s Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption). The cloister was rebuilt after a fire in 1174, but its Late Gothic frescoes were painted circa 1390 by artists active throughout this mainly German-speaking region. The Battle of Beth Zechariah was fought as 20,000 Jewish rebels led by Judah Maccabee tried to prevent a Seleucid army of 55,000 Greeks and Syrians equipped with chariots and 30 war elephants from reaching Jerusalem. Eleazar Maccabee, Judah’s younger brother, believed one elephant carried the Seleucid king and planned to kill it to strengthen the rebels’ resolve. He charged into enemy ranks and thrust a weapon into the animal’s unprotected belly. The elephant died instantly - as did Eleazar when the elephant fell on top of him. The battle ended in a heavy Jewish defeat and a new siege of Jerusalem, but Eleazar was hailed as a hero, gaining the posthumous nickname ‘Avaran’ (Piercer). The incident was depicted by many medieval artists, including the Tyrolean painters who frescoed this cloister. Most had never actually seen an elephant - nor even a sketch of one - and some of their efforts are even more outlandish than this.
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Bressanone-Brixen, South Tyrol, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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