Flaming Pigs

Ancient sources record the use of pigs as weapons against war elephants. Greek writers such as Polyaenus and Aelianus Tacticus describe how, during the siege of Megara in 266 BC, defenders drove flaming, squealing pigs toward the elephants of the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas, sending them into panic. The tactic proved effective enough that later commanders trained elephants alongside swine…