there are fewer records of elephants being used as straightforward executioners for the civil population. one such example is mentioned by josephus and the deuterocanonical book of 3 maccabees in connection with the egyptian jews, though the story is likely apocryphal. 3 maccabees describes an attempt by ptolemy iv philopator (ruled 221–204 bc) to enslave and brand egypt's jews with the symbol of dionysus. when the majority of the jews resisted, the king is said to have rounded them up and ordered them to be trampled on by elephants. the mass execution was ultimately thwarted, supposedly by the intervention of angels, following which ptolemy took an altogether more forgiving attitude towards his jewish subjects.