Introduction

In 344 BC, the great King of Macedon, Philip II, was in pursuit of buying horses. In this pursuit, he would encounter a trader from the nearby Kingdom of Thessalonica whose name was Philonicus the Thessalian. Philonicus offered “of the best Thessalian strain” (modern day, the Akhal Teke horse breed) for a handsome price. As this horse Philonicus offered to the great King, would be a horse which excelled in all traits for a horse which would be used in war (strength, mobility, height, etc). However, the horse was also exceedingly stubborn and wild.

Seeing this, Philip would have discharged the deal if it were not for his 13-year-old son, Alexander III, who objected to the dismissal of Philonicus. Betting that he could alone tame the mighty steed, Philonicus would have to give it up for free. Philonicus accepted the deal, as not only did he believe the horse was absurdly wild to the point of being impossible to train, but that Alexander, being a 13-year-old, couldn’t live a single blow from the massive horse.

However, Alexander would miraculously tame the “wild” horse, guiding the horse to face the rising sun in the distance. He knew this would work as he had figured out that the horse was scared of its own shadow. When Philip saw this, he reportedly began to weep, exclaiming “O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worth of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee.” And so, one of the most famous bonds between human and animal in Antiquity would be created that very day.

Background

Before it is possible to continue the story of Alexander and the now-named horse Bucephalus. It is important to learn the history leading up to this period. Beginning with the aftermath of the Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BC). In these wars, the Greek city states banded together to flush out the invading Achaemenid Persian Empire. However, in the aftermath of this flushing out, the pro-Persian states would face strong backlash from the Classical Greek World's new superpowers, Lacedaemon (Sparta) and Athens.

One of these states which would be shamed and brutally isolated from the now established free Greek city states would be Macedon. However, this would be for the best in the long run, as soon as the Persian threat disappeared. The Greek city states began to fight among themselves thanks to the rapid creation of Leagues and Athenian imperialism. Dubbed the Peloponnesian Wars, the two powerhouses of Sparta and Athens would clash across the Greek world. From the dictatorship of Dionysus in Syracuse, Sicily, to the isolated islands in the Aegean Sea. The war would last for a nasty 30-year long period.

Only ending thanks to Persian economic aid and to the genius that is the Spartan General Lysander. With the Persians' aid, Lysander would assemble a fleet big enough to challenge Athens'. Confronting the Athenians' fleet at the Battle of Notium in 406 BC and defeating them. With this Peloponnesian League victory, Athens’ navy would slowly crumble into the depths of the Aegean after the pyrrhic victory at Arginusae the same year. Dismembering the Delian League and the empire Athens was trying to build, Sparta would come on top as the Greek world’s hegemonic power.

This power wouldn’t last long, as they began to practice imperialism themselves. Setting up garrisons in each city state, the Spartans would accidentally trigger their own ally, Thebes, leading to the Battle of Leuctra on July 6th, 371 BC, in which Sparta would see its entire soldier population get annihilated. The Spartan crowns and the Ephors meanwhile, were cowed by the Thebans and their general Epaminondas.

And with new hegemonic power, imperialism would once again take place. The Thebans, instead of triggering the entirety of the Classical Greek world. Would decide to instead, sneakily plunge their political tentacles into the politics of many other Greek city states. This included the backwater state of Macedonia.

in which the King of Macedon exiled his son Philip II for murdering one of his own brothers. When Thebes realized this, they decided to open their borders to Philip. While in Thebes, he would be taught by the one and only Epaminondas about the rapidly evolving warfare of the Greeks at the time. Philip would learn multiple things in his courses with Epaminondas, including the rapidly shifting Greek Hoplite armies and especially the importance of cavalry.

After the death of his older brother in combat in Illyria, Philip would then be promptly returned to Macedon. The Thebans, hoping that Philip would become a favorable ally of the Boeotian League (a league established by the Thebans). And Philip would do so upon taking the Macedonian crown, secretly though he reorganized the Macedonian military. Using everything he had learned from his teacher Epaminondas, he would begin the making of the companion cavalry. Leading us to where Alexander first met Bucephalus in 344 BC.

Bucephalus´ Military Career

By the time of Bucephalus’ recruitment into the Macedonian Army, Philip would begin a takeover of Greece. Striking the Boeotian League and its allies at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. In this battle, Bucephalus and Alexander would see their first piece of pivotal combat, as the stakes were quite high. If Macedonia won, Greece would be fully subjected to Macedonian rule, and if Macedonia lost, its offensive momentum would be completely crushed. Allowing the Greek city states to reassemble and defeat them.

In this battle, Alexander would command his father’s companion cavalry on the back of Bucephalus. Despite being only 18 years old, Alexander was a born tactician, leading his father’s cavalry force when he needed it most—when the Sacred Band of Thebes was deployed. The Sacred Band of Thebes, being the top-of-the-line military hoplite force at the time and consisting of a majority of male lovers, was a unit to keep an eye out on. And Alexander certainly did, taking the companion cavalry and crashing upon the elite hoplite unit. Shredding through the Thebans upon the back of Bucephalus.

After the Battle of Chaeronea, Philip would become the first Greek King of a united Greece (besides Sparta), and with this united Greek force. He decided it would be best to rebuild Macedon´s reputational damages during the Greco-Persian Wars and avenge the sacking of Athens via an invasion of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. However, Philip wouldn't see this to floration, as he would be assassinated.

And Alexander, being the only heir of Philip remaining, Alexander became King of Macedon at only age 20. The Greeks down south saw this as a great opportunity to revolt against the Macedonian crown. A joint coalition of Thebian and Athenian forces would attempt to overthrow the Macedonian regime. However, Alexander, when he showed up with the Macedonian Army in Boeotia, the Athenians abandoned the cause of freedom. Leaving Thebes all alone to fight against Alexander at the Battle of Thebes in 335 BC.

Thebes would be undoubtedly crushed, as a result of the battle and Thebes´ hostility towards the Macedonian Crown. Alexander wiped the city off the face of the Earth to serve as an example for others. With unquestionable Greek loyalty after the destruction of Thebes, Bucephalus would finally experience the spotlight of history as Alexander would ride him to the ends of the known world, in Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire.

Fighting from the Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC to the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, Bucephalus would carry the Macedonian King. From calmly carrying the Great King´s unconscious body after receiving a blow to the head to bravely charging against the Pauravas (Indian) Elephant. Bucephalus certainly had a courageous military record.

However, even with all of the wounds Bucephalus would receive throughout his entire career, his wounds at the Hydaspes due to Elephants were deadly. Resulting in his death directly on the battlefield or afterwards. Bucephalus´ death would warrant the humbleness of deregraned Alexander, who wished for further conquests (forgot to mention this but by the time of the Hydaspes, Alexander had gone mad with conquest after conquering the entirety of the Persian Empire).

Bucephalus´ Legacy

After the death of Bucephalus, Alexander would decide to build an entire city nearby to where the stallion had died. Naming it Alexandria Bucephalous, it would be one of the furthest most Greek settlements from the Greek world as it would be placed in modern day Pakistan. However, this settlement wouldn't last, but Bucephalus´ legacy as the famed horse which carried it´s rider to the ends of the Earth would carry on. From each iconic statue or painting of Alexander, there would also be a Bucephalus.

Many famous generals which worshiped Alexander would also try to get their own Bucephalus. For example, Gaius Julius Caesar, a Roman general, would get his own horse and name it Asturcus. But the biggest thing that Bucephalus had contributed to in his life, would be the creation of an entire period which would go on to plague all students. This period would be known as the Hellenistic Age, in which such legendary cities such as Alexandria in Egypt would blossom into centers of knowledge.

These cities would not be possible without Bucephalus, and many modern math concepts (like geometry) and other inventions there would have been made a lot later. In fact, before the Roman takeover of Greece, the Greeks in Alexandria were able to calculate the Earth's circumference (a few miles slightly off from the actual circumference). Not to mention, a possible bronze computer which calculated the movement of the stars above for omens (not really made in Alexandria, but the person who funded the creation of this computer, Mithridates, was a descendant of Alexander and was the last hope for the Hellenistic Age before the Romans took over).

And so to conclude, the legacy of this horse with a white star in the middle of its forehead is certainly one to admire. From guiding his rider to the ends of the Earth and helping in the triggering of the Hellenisitic Age, Bucephalus is cool.

-Chuheng Wen 804