Armoured Hebrew hero Eleazar Maccabee about to die after impaling an outlandish war elephant 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: a Hebrew hero thrusts a sharp weapon into the unprotected belly of an outlandish enemy war elephant - seconds before he also dies when it collapses on top of him. Despite Eleazar Maccabee wearing a suit of medieval armour, this detail of a bizarre artwork in an Italian cathedral cloister actually depicts a biblical incident that took place at least 1,500 years earlier: the Battle of Beth Zechariah fought in 162 BC between 20,000 Jewish rebels and a Seleucid army of 55,000 Greeks and Syrians equipped with chariots and 30 war elephants. Eleazar, younger brother of rebel leader Judah Maccabee, believed one elephant carried the Seleucid king and planned to kill it to strengthen Jewish resolve - but the battle ended in a heavy Jewish defeat and a new siege of Jerusalem. Despite that, Eleazar was hailed as a hero, gaining the posthumous nickname ‘Avaran’ (Piercer). Historical and anatomical accuracy was obviously not a strength of the medieval artist who painted this fresco in the ceiling vault of the 12th century cloister attached to Bressanone’s Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption). Judging by his depiction of an animal with a small head, tapering legs, fluted ears, wild boar-style tusks and a trunk with a bell-shaped end, he can never have seen a real elephant. The cloister was rebuilt after a fire in 1174, but its Late Gothic frescoes were painted circa 1390 by Tyrolean artists active throughout this mainly German-speaking region. Many other medieval painters attempted to depict the scene - sometimes with even more eccentric results than this one.
Size: 4110px × 2730px
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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