The Indus Valley, despite being one of the many origins of elephant species, was actually a poor environment to raise elephants owing to its abundance of mice and other rodents which were able to block elephant shouts. After Alexander’s conquest, Ptolemy, in preparation for his conflict with Perdiccas, made a pact with Porus and Peithon, two Satraps occupying the Eastern limit of the Macedonian Empire, to ship elephants to Egypt.

There, Ptolemy licensed several elephant markets. The largest on record actually became a city in its own right - Elephas, or Elephantine. Elephantine was the capital of the ancient elephant trade, and provided the majority of both Indian and African elephants to the rest of the world until the Sassanid conquest of Egypt in 622, in which the Wurzug Framandar of the Sassanid Empire declared elephants the living spawn of Ahriman, attempting to establish a dog market instead.

However, the elephant trade continued unabated in the West. It’s high point was during the mercantile voyages of Hannibal Barca, a notoriously forceful elephant salesman whose trade caravan was noted for its exceptional ability to overcome the objections of potential customers. Barca’s persistence as a salesman was to the extent that he camped outside the city of Saguntum for over a year before the people of the city finally agreed to a contract to buy elephants. However, due to the machinations of Barca’s operations chief, Hanno the Great (Carthage being a merchant republic, corrupt bargains were bound to happen), the elephants were never delivered.

Hannibal, an enterprising entrepreneur, wished to sell elephants to the Roman market. However, the Lex Minotaurius 10 years prior had banned the sale of all “mythical creatures and those otherwise unsavory for public viewing”, as part of the lobbying of Senator Cato the Eldest to secure a monopoly over the elephant trade in lieu of a governorship following his second Consulship.

Hannibal thus had to smuggle his elephants into Rome, a feat which earned him universal renown in the merchant republic of Carthage. To do this, Hannibal crossed the alps and used vinegar and heat to carve paths through the mountains. Hannibal established three elephant markets over the course of the next 5 years, at Trebbia, Lake Trasimane, and Cannae respectively. The markets were a great hit. At Cannae alone, 1/3 of the Senate purchased elephants. The tour was such a success that Hannibal was able to invite a large caravan of Romans after his voyage to come to Africa during his last elephant market at Zama.

Unfortunately for Hannibal and the West African elephant trade, this market went awry. Wealthy Roman aristocrat Scipio Africanus (so named due to his birth in Africa) had ordered the whole elephant stock in advance. However, Hanno the Great attempted to cheat Scipio on the price at the last minute. “Non sequitor!” Scipio shouted to his men as the elephants were being delivered (“no deal” in Latin), and his handlers parted ways, causing the elephants to run through the gaps in his caravan, before turning and trampling Hannibal’s caravan. Later, Scipio’s relative Scipio Aemelianus (so named due to his lifelong desire to ameliorate bad relations between the two countries) visited Carthage to collect reparations payments for the incident.

Source:

El Ghany, Ghany. Hasdrubal’s Rubles: An Econometric Study on the Ancient Maghreb Economy

[No Last Name], Shahrbaraz. Why the Elephants must be Cooked: An Open Letter to Shahanshah Khosrau II

Economou, Elepheneitor: A Ptolemid Never Forgets: The Creation of the Elephant Market in Sub-Persian Egypt

Edit: April fools