This is John Batchel, speaking with Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson, his new book about the

Ptolemaic dynasty, from the late 4th century BCE until the death of Cleopatra, right before the

turn of the calendar, Octavian in charge, becoming Augustus.

But there were innovations in those 300 years, and one of them was arms race, war fighting.

How?

Elephants.

The professor introduces us to competing elephant on the battlefield weapon.

That was how Egypt fought.

That's how Macedonia learned to fight.

Here's the professor on the elephant arms race of the Ptolemaean, Ptolemaic dynasty.

Much more later. Yeah, this is so is so interesting isn't it so think of elephants

as the battle tanks of the ancient world right once they're clothed in in armor they can really

just drive forward against any kind of opposition so the ptolemy's great rivals called the

solucids in in in much of what is today, the Middle East,

they have access to Indian elephants, which are pretty strong and can be trained as kind of

battle elephants. The Ptolemy's have to make do with African elephants, which are a little bit more

flighty on the field of battle. They're harder to train. But you're right, there is this escalating

arms race of Indian elephants against African elephants and who can amass the most elephants

in their army. It's a little strange. You couldn't really make it up,

but it was in its time the most important arms race in the world.