West Asia
Death by elephant also leaked across into the Middle East. A twelfth-century Jewish traveler reported an execution by this means during his stay in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq:
“At Nineveh there was an elephant. Its head is not protruding. It is big, eats about two wagon loads of straw at once; its mouth is in its breast, and when it wants to eat it protrudes its lip about two cubits, takes up the straw with it, and puts it in its mouth. When the sultan condemns anyone to death, they say to the elephant, “this person is guilty.” It then seizes him with its lip, casts him aloft and slays him”.
Next stop Sri Lanka…
☛ Read Next: Most Brutal Execution Methods #2: Scaphism
