The first book of the apocryphal Maccabees (I Macc.6,43ff.) describes the fight of a certain Eleasar against an elephant of the enemy. He placed himself under the monster, and stabbed it in the chest. It broke down crushing the soldier underneath. The stuff heroes are made of.

In Antiquity, elephants were formidable adversaries (Hannibal’s use of them is well-known). The soldiers riding them were protected by towerlike structures built on the animals’ backs, not quite like the one on this painting, however. The elephant, too, doesn’t seem to be quite true to life.