In 1514, King Manuel I of Portugal gave Pope Leo X a white Indian Elephant named Hanno. When Hanno arrived in the Vatican—after sailing from Conchin, on India’s southwest coast, to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Rome, he was an enormous sensation. He marched in parades and gave audiences. He was billeted in a house built just for him in-between St. Peter’s and the Papal Palace. According to a contemporary poet, Hanno danced for the Pope, to whom he displayed grace, love and reverence.

Two years later, with Pope Leo by his side, Hanno died. He’d taken sick suddenly with an intestinal problem. He was only seven years old. The Pope, and all of Rome, were devastated. Pope Leo arranged for him to entombed in Bramante’s Cortile del Belvedere, and commemorated with a memorial fresco painted by Rafael. The Pope wrote Hanno’s epitaph himself: