[iafisher]

This story reminds me of Abul-Abbas [1], an elephant given to Charlemagne by the caliph of the Abbasids. Frederick II wasn't the first Holy Roman Emperor to collect exotic animals, it seems.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul-Abbas

[_Codemonkeyism]

The Romans had war elephants [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_war_elephants

[baldfat]

Hannibal? He fought the Romans in Spain and then took the elephants over the Italian Alps and attacks Rome from the North. That is the greatest military feat for me.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/03/where-muck-h...

[_Codemonkeyism]

Yes the Romans had elephant idea probably from Hannibal, the article references the Punic wars.

[adrianratnapala]

Yes, but the Holy Roman Empire is a different kettle of fish.

[smadge]

Not as surprising since the Elephants came from just a few hundred miles away accross the Mediterranean Sea.

[adrianratnapala]

The Romans used both north African elephants (now extinct) and Asian elephants which they got by long-distance trade.

Apparently the Asian elephants were larger; and besides I suppose India and Sri Lanka also had better infrastructure for catching and training war elephants than the Roman Empire did.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_elephant