 | ||
Odontotyrannos (Greek: όδοντοτύραννος), also odontotyrannus or dentityrannus ("tooth-tyrant") is a three horned beast said to have attacked Alexander the Great and his men at their camp in India, according to the Latin Letter from Alexander to Aristotle and medieval romances that incorporated it.
Contents
Descriptions
According to the Latin Letter from Alexander, it had a black, horse-like head, with three horns protruding from its forehead, and exceeded the size of an elephant. It was undeterred by the sight of fire, killing twent-six Macedonians and incapacitating fifty-two, before being put down by thrusts of hunting spears. The local Indians called the beast "tooth-tyrant" (dentityrranus or odontatyrannus).
Valerius's biography of Alexander (beginning of the 4th century) spells the beast's name as "odontotyrannus" and states that the strength of 300 men were required to drag its body out of the river. In the Syriac version of Pseudo-Callisthenes, it is the Mashḳělath or Mashklet (Syriac: ܡܫܩܠܬ) which causes 26 casualties among Macedons and requires 300 men to tug out of a ditch, and in the Armenian version 1,300 were needed for the job.
In the Ethiopic version, it was an elephant-sized beast with tusks that attacked (unnamed but corresponding to the odontotyrannus). When it was eviscerated, the Macedonians discovered among the stomach contents scorpions as well as large fish the size of an ox. In the Greek writings of Palladius (5th century) and George the monk (9th century), the odontotyrannus (όδοντοτύραννος) was an amphibious carnivore that can devour an elephant.
In Li roman d'Alixandre of Alexandre de Bernay, the beast is named tirant, and in Thomas de Kent's Roman de toute chevalerie, the Old French name is dent-tyrant. In the Middle English King Alisaunder, "deutyrauns".
Zoological identifications
Many scholars have proposed various large beasts in the animal kingdom as to its identity. Budge suggested it may be a crocodilian native to the Ganges, and hinted the Syriac name might be a corruption of the makara, a composite creature in Hindu mythology. It may also be based on Ctesias's description of the giant fanged Indus worm. The makara theory and Ctesia's influence is also supported by Gunderson. Others proposed a rhinoceros, though conceding it may just be an imaginary creature.
Reconstructed Sanskirt name
Christian Lassen in the 19th century reconstructed the original name of this beast to be *dantešvara "lord of teeth", from danta "tooth" and īšvara "the Lord". This unattested form was rejected by Roger Goossens, who proposed instead dvijarāja which carries the dual meaning of "king of reptiles" or "king of teeth".