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King Manuel had either received him as a gift from the King of Cochin, or had asked Afonso de Albuquerque, his viceroy in India, to purchase him. Hanno was said to be white in colour, and arrived by ship from Lisbon to Rome in 1514, aged about four years, and was kept initially in an enclosure in the Belvedere courtyard, then moved to a specially constructed building between St. Peter's Basilica and the Apostolic Palace, near the Borgo Sant'Angelo (a road in the rione of Borgo). His arrival was commemorated in poetry and art. Pasquale Malaspina wrote:

“In the Belvedere before the great Pastor
Was conducted the trained elephant
Dancing with such grace and such love
That hardly better would a man have danced:
And then with its trunk such a great noise
It made, that the entire place was deafened:
And stretching itself on the ground to kneel
It then straightened up in reverence to the Pope,
And to his entourage.”

Hanno became a great favourite of the papal court and was featured in processions. Two years after he came to Rome, he fell ill suddenly, was given a purgative, and died on 8 June 1516, with the pope at his side. Hanno was interred in the Cortile del Belvedere at the age of seven.



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Papacy began    9 March 1513 (elected)
11 March 1513 (proclaimed)
Papacy ended    1 December 1521 (8 years, 8 months, 20 days)
Predecessor    Julius II
Successor    Adrian VI

Personal details

Birth name    Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici
Born    11 December 1475 (1475-12-11), Florence, Republic of Florence
Died    1 December 1521 (1521-12-01) (aged 45), Rome, Papal States


Under his pontificate, Latin Christianity assumed a pagan, Greco-Roman character, which, passing from art into manners, gives to this epoch a strange complexion. Crimes for the moment disappeared, to give place to vices; but to charming vices, vices in good taste, such as those indulged in by Alcibiades and sung by Catullus. --Alexandre Dumas, père



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A white elephant is "a burdensome possession; creating more trouble than it is worth".

Origin of the idiom

White (albino) elephants were regarded as holy in ancient times in Thailand and other Asian countries. Keeping a white elephant was a very expensive undertaking, since the owner had to provide the elephant with special food and provide access for people who wanted to worship it. If a Thai King became dissatisfied with a subordinate, he would give him a white elephant. The gift would, in most cases, ruin the recipient.

References to Indian and Thai veneration of white elephants dates back to at least the early 17th century. The first reference in English to the idiomatic meaning of the term 'white elephant' comes in 1851 G. E. Jewbury's Letters, 1892:

"His services are like so many white elephants, of which nobody can make use, and yet that drain one's gratitude, if indeed one does not feel bankrupt."

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/410050.html



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just curious if there are naturally white elephants (i mean that there's no absence of melanin in their skin pigmentation like albinos, as there are white cats and white bears).  by the way, i found this:

Albinism is found in the ratio of about 1 in every 20,000 camels, snakes, crows, monkeys, lizards, and also human beings. However, a fully albino (white) elephant has not been observed yet though partially albino elephant is sometimes passed as white elephant. The people of Burma and Thailand revere such elephants as divine creatures. They are given royal treatment and not put to work. Perhaps that is why a thing or a person that is the cause of expenditure only without earning its keep is called a ‘white elephant’!

http://www.herebeanswers.com/2010/05/existence-white-elephants-albinism.html



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