Animal Trader

Exotic animals were prized for display and sport and for their pelts and skins. Some, such as camels, dogs and elephants, were trained for battle. With careful handling, dogs and elephants could cause panic in undisciplined enemies; handled badly they could wreak havoc on friends too! Seleucus Nicator, 'the Victor', and the founder of the Seleucid Empire, gained 500 war elephants from a peace treaty with Emperor Chandragupta of Maurya. They proved decisive in Seleucus Nicator’s victory at the Battle of Ipsus in 301BC. The animal trade was highly lucrative; as the games held at Roman amphitheatres reached their peak, the arenas had an almost insatiable appetite for animal flesh. Some animal populations, even from beyond Rome’s boundaries, were driven to the edge of extinction to feed the spectacles, and eastern merchants were quite happy to take Roman coin.