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Abul-Abbas
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{{Short description|Elephant sent as a gift from Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne}} {{About|the historic elephant|the Qur'anic figure of the same name|Khidr|the chessman known as Charlemagne's elephant|Elephant of Yusuf al-Bahili}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox animal | name = Abul-Abbas | image = File:Elephant, Detail of the 6th century mosaic floor from the Palatium Magnum (Constantinople's Great Palace), Palace Mosaic Museum, Istanbul (43942930632).jpg | image_size = | caption = 6th-century mosaic of an elephant from the [[Great Palace of Constantinople]] | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|770s or 780s}}<ref group="lower-alpha">Birth date based on the average male Asian elephant maturity age as contemporary documents suggest Abul-Abbas was fully grown when it arrived in [[Europe]].</ref> | birth_place = [[Abbasid Caliphate]] (possibly) | othername = | species = [[Asian elephant]] | gender = Male | death_date = 810 (aged around 30–40) | death_place = likely near [[Münster]] or [[Wesel]], [[Germany]] | occupation = | years_active = | weight = | height = | appearance = | namedafter = }} '''Abul-Abbas''' ({{circa|770s or 780s}} – 810) was an [[Asian elephant]] brought back to the [[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian emperor]] [[Charlemagne]] by his diplomat [[Isaac the Jew]]. The gift was from the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid caliph]] [[Harun al-Rashid]] and symbolizes the beginning of [[Abbasid–Carolingian alliance|Abbasid–Carolingian relations]]. The elephant's name and events from his life are recorded in the Carolingian ''[[Annales regni Francorum]],''<ref name="ARF801-116">''Annales regni francorum'' Anno 801 ({{Harvnb|Kurze|1895|p=116}}, [[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]] edition)</ref><ref name="Scholz081">{{Harvnb|Scholz|1970|pp=81–2}} (Eng. tr. of ''ARB'' = ''Royal Frankish Annals'')</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">The ''Annales regni francorum'' Anno 802 gives "''venit Isaac cum elefanto et ceteris muniberus, quae a rege Persarum missa sunt, et Aquisgrani omnia imperatori detulit; nomen elefanti erat Abul Abaz''". Harun al Rashid is referred to as either the king of the Persians (ibid 801:116 "rex Persarum") or of the Saracenes (ibid 810:113 "''ubi dum aliquot dies moraretur, elefant ille, quem ei Aaron rex Sarracenorum miserat, subita morte periit''"</ref> and he is mentioned in [[Einhard]]'s ''[[Vita Karoli Magni]]''.<ref>Einhard (tr. {{Harvnb|Thorpe|1969|p=70}})</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Einhard refers to the elephant as the only one Harun al Rashid had ("''quem tunc solem habetat''"), which is regarded an invention.<ref>{{Harvnb|Thorpe|1969|p=184}} (endnotes)</ref>}} However, no references to the gift or to interactions with Charlemagne have been found in Abbasid records.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sherman|first1=Dennis|last2=Salisbury|first2=Joyce|author2-link= Joyce E. Salisbury |title=The West in the World, Volume I: To 1715|volume=1|edition=3|location=New York|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-331669-7|oclc=177823124|page=220|date=6 December 2007}}</ref>
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