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Was there ever a horse like Bucephalos?

Bucephalos was as black as a crow’s wing at midnight in mid-winter. He was eighteen hands high, with a long powerful neck,  proud majestic head and was admired for his strength and beauty by all who saw him. What is less known, however, is that Bucephalos was a cantankerous nag.

It was at Dion, in the narrow pass between Thessaly and Macedonia, that Alexander, then only 8 years old, first saw the handsome black stallion. Philoneicus, a horse-trader, brought the horse to sell to Philip II but, as the animal behaved wildly and would allow no one near him, the King was mightily angry. Alexander openly challenged his father and wagered that he could tame the difficult horse.

Alexander quieted the animal, turning him so that he could not see his shadow, leaped up, and galloped away. When the young prince returned from his ride, Philip said, “My son, look for a kingdom equal to you. Macedonia is too small“. And that was how this great steed became the legendary warhorse of Alexander the Great, Conqueror of the Known World.

But the behaviour of Bucephalos left a lot to be desired. He was the Royal Favourite and he knew it.

No other horses could be grazed with him for fear of a fight, and many were the tales from the grooms and stablehands of his ill humour. Caring for Bucephalos became a task of fear. Scores of grooms were attacked and one, a Persian boy with long experience in the stables at Susa, was fatally kicked in the chest.

The common soldiers avoided the horse for fear of a sudden swift kick from a powerful hoof or a savage bite from those long teeth. No one dared to complain of course, everyone knew how devoted Alexander was to his equine companion.

One day, while the Macedonian army was camped near the Swat River, some Bactrians stole Bucephalos. Alexander swore that if his horse was not returned unharmed the next day, all villages within a 50 mile radius would be put to the torch, the men killed, the women and children taken into slavery.

Bucephalos reappeared the next morning, hungry and disheveled, but otherwise his old nasty self. The mystery of his disapperance was never solved but thousands of innocent villagers were spared from a violent death, or worse.

When the detestable creature did die, shortly after the battle at the Hydaspes River during the Indian campaign, there was quiet rejoicing all over the Macedonian camp.

Alexander built the city of Bucephala, (now in Afghanistan), in memory of him in the year of 326 BCE. He was the only one who missed Bucepalos.