Detail of the fresco on Hannibal riding his elephant, Italy, Rome, Capitole museum.
Surus — whose name means “The Syrian” — is believed to be the only one of Hannibal’s elephants who survived after aiding the Carthaginian general in his epic trek across the Alps to attack the Romans. Surus, who is thought to have been a large Asian elephant with one tusk, was the one Hannibal often rode. Although most of the general’s elephants were of African descent, historians believe that at least one — most likely Surus — hailed from India. Certainly the most resilient of Hannibal’s legion of war elephants, Surus made it through hunger, sickness, extreme cold, and, of course, war.