Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 August 16

= August 16 =

Wearing an elephant scalp
There are a bunch of ancient coins showing rulers with an elephant scalp. Obviously an elephant head is much larger than the human one, yet the coins show it fitting well on the head. Same goes for bear and lion scalps of signifers which also seem too large to fit the head nicely. Why is that? Perhaps some shrinkage after artificially drying the scalp? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 10:26, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Do you think these guys were literally wearing shrunken elephant heads? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:35, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * "Elephant scalp" is the correct description of this headdress: see The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal: Volume 14, 1986 (p. 36), Roman Imperial Coinage II.3: From AD 117 to AD 138 - Hadrian (p. 194) and Every Inch a King: Comparative Studies on Kings and Kingship in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds (p. 111). The first coins with this imagery were issued by Ptolemy I Soter in the late 3rd or early 4th century BC, showing Alexander the Great wearing one, probably to symbolise his conquest of India.
 * The Getty source linked above suggests that it was probably a helmet made to look like an elephant's head. Until somebody digs-up an actual example, this can only be conjecture. Alansplodge (talk) 13:31, 16 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Actually, this looks like a teapot crafted by an early Viking mad hatter. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 16:10, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, Sir Billy Connolly looks like a Viking and almost certainly has Viking DNA, and he notably wrote: "Never trust a man who, when he's alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on" (Thoughts That Sustain Me). That's all the imprimatur anybody needs. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:36, 16 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Even if they shrunk the elephant head, the tusks wouldn’t just shrink. It’d have to be a young elephant, but I suspect e d almostven their heads would be too large. It was probably hammered metal. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 17:33, 16 August 2020 (UTC)


 * It need not have been a real object at all (what would have been the occasion to wear something like this?), but may just have been a symbolic and mythologising representation on coins and in other formats. It is certainly reminiscent of representations of Heracles wearing the lion scalp (the coins shown here pre-date Alexander). --Wrongfilter (talk) 17:52, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I've seen plenty of Green Bay Packers fans wearing giant wedges of cheese on their heads, yet they are not actually made of cheese. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:42, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Really? I mean, do you seriously think you just contributed in any meaningful way to answering the question? --Wrongfilter (talk) 22:06, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Do you seriously think the figures on those coins were wearing real animal scalps? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:25, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * In my contribution above I stated clearly what I think. --Wrongfilter (talk) 07:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, and the wearing of odd things on the head is a long-standing practice - both ancient on nowadays. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:43, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * If you have nothing to say, then don't say it here. --Lambiam 19:32, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * This is just ridiculous. --Wrongfilter (talk) 14:04, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, I had thought I was reinforcing your point and informing the OP. I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:56, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!--Khajidha (talk) 11:13, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Anyhow, Roman Standard Bearers are recorded and depicted as having worn real lion or bear skins, with the head-part on top of their helmets. However, wearing an actual elephant's head seems infinitely improbable. Alansplodge (talk) 14:16, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Who was R. SAUERWALD?
R. SAUERWALD. Improvements in electric batteries. GB patent 10904, 1888. . He made galvanometer in Berlin.

Does anyone know him? TIA. Horus1927 19:08, 16 August 2020 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Horus1927 (talk • contribs)


 * A quick search suggests that the "Sauerwald galvanometer" mentioned in your second source was manufactured by the firm of F. Sauerwald and not the R. Sauerwald to whom that patent issued. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 20:27, 16 August 2020 (UTC)
 * And if you are interested in F. Sauerwald, I believe you may find an article celebrating his 70th birthday giving a short biography (in German) at 10.1002/zfch.19640040602. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 20:36, 16 August 2020 (UTC)