POPE LEO X & Hanno
The elephant that stole the heart of a Pope and a city
Hanno was a white Indian elephant given to
Pope Leo X in 1514 as a gift from King Manuel
I of Portugal. Hanno took part in the entrance procession for the king’s ambassadors and he was covered “with gold brocade carrying a howdah of silver.” Upon reaching the pope, he sucked water into his trunk and sprayed those who had gathered, including Leo himself! Hanno delighted the pope and the city of Rome as they had not seen an elephant since the days of the fallen empire. Leo even wrote to Manuel to thank him, stating that Hanno had “become for our people an object of extraordinary wonder.”
Manuel had sent a retinue of other exotic animals, including leopards, parrots and cheetahs, to gain the pope’s support for Portugal’s trade expansion. However, it was Hanno who Leo, and the public, adored.
When he passed away just two years later,
Leo was heartbroken. He commissioned the artist Raphael to create a memorial fresco in Hanno’s honour, which unfortunately no longer exists, and he personally wrote the epitaph to accompany it. Hanno was buried beneath the Vatican courtyard, with his remains discovered there in 1962.
“Hanno delighted the pope and the city of Rome as they had not seen an elephant since the days of the Roman Empire. Leo even wrote to Manuel to thank him”