emblem on their coins. The Syrian kings alone could pro- cure elephants from India, and kept about 500 in a training depot at Apamea. In battle an Indian mahout straddled the neck of the elephant, which carried a wooden tower with four fighting men. The animals were used not only against enemy elephants (the Ptolemies used elephants from Africa), but as a screen against cavalry and to break into fortified positions. In 163 B.C. the Romans sent a mission to destroy the war elephants of Syria, virtually ending the only period in history in which this animal played an important part in warfare outside India.
The same Roman mission which destroyed the war elephants was charged with burning the Seleucid fleet, which had been increased beyond the number allowed to Antiochus III in the treaty of 188. While the fleet played no decisive role in any of the recorded battles, yet it must have had enough nuisance value to necessitate inclusion in the treaty of a clause limiting the number of its units and confining its sphere of activity to Asiatic waters. A small part of it was evidently maintained in the Persian Gulf. On the whole, the function of the navy was to support the army and to protect military transports. It was no doubt manned mostly by Phoenicians. The ships were quinqueremes, having a single row of oars with five men to each oar. They could be used for ramming, a practice in which the Phoenicians excelled.
The unity of the Seleucid empire found expression in the uniformity of its military organization and in the administrative system of the provinces inherited in large part from the Persians. Of the local provincial government not much is known, but it is evident that the old govern- mental machinery was maintained. The administrative division kept its Persian name, satrapy, and was sub- divided into districts for administrative purposes. The royal mint was, of course, at Antioch, but provincial mints existed at Tyre, Sidon, Aradus and other important cities. The
