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{{Other uses|Bucephalus (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Domenico Maria Canuti - Alexander and Bucephalus.jpeg|thumb|right|upright|''Alexander and Bucephalus'' by [[Domenico Maria Canuti]], 17th century]]
'''Bucephalus''' or '''Bucephalas''' ({{IPAc-en|b|juː|ˈ|s|ɛ|f|ə|l|ə|s|}}; {{lang-grc|Βουκεφάλας}}; {{Circa|355 BC}} – June 326 BC){{Efn|From {{Lang-grc|βοῦς|translit=Bous|lit=[[ox]]|label=none}} and {{Lang-grc|κεφαλή|translit=Kephalē|lit=head|label=none}}, meaning "ox-head".}} was the [[horse]] of [[Alexander the Great]], and one of the most famous horses of [[classical antiquity]].<ref>Aside from mythic [[Pegasus]] and the wooden [[Trojan Horse]], or [[Incitatus]], Caligula's favourite horse, proclaimed Roman [[consul]].</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.worldhistory.org/Bucephalus/|title=The Bucephalus|newspaper=World History Encyclopedia|date=6 October 2011|first1=Donald|last1=Wasson}}</ref> Ancient historical accounts<ref>The primary (actually secondary) accounts are two: [[Plutarch]]'s ''Life of Alexander'', 6, and [[Arrian]]'s ''[[Anabasis Alexandri]]'' V.19.</ref> state that Bucephalus' breed was that of the "best [[Thessaly|Thessalian]] strain", and that he died in what is now [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]], after the [[Battle of the Hydaspes]] in 326 BC. Alexander was so grieved at the loss of his horse that he named [[List of cities founded by Alexander the Great|one of the many cities he founded]] after him, as [[Alexandria Bucephalous]].

Bucephalus was named after [[Bucephalus (brand)|a branding mark depicting an ox's head]] on his haunch.<ref>{{cite book |last= Hammond |first= N. G. L. |author-link= N. G. L. Hammond |date= 1998 |title= The Genius of Alexander the Great |page=396 |isbn= 0-8078-4744-5 |publisher= The University of North Carolina Press |location= Chapel Hill |url= https://archive.org/details/geniusofalexande00nglh |chapter-url = http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/396 |access-date = 15 February 2016 |quote= Bucephalus, meaning 'Oxhead', so named from the brand-mark on his haunch, was a stallion some four years old. |url-access = registration}}</ref>

== Taming of Bucephalus ==
[[File:Alexander & Bucephalus by John Steell.JPG|thumb|right|A statue by [[John Steell]] showing Alexander taming Bucephalus]]
A massive creature with a massive head, Bucephalus is described as having a black coat with a large white star on his brow.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} He is also supposed to have had a "[[Horse markings#Other identifying features|wall eye]]" (blue eye) {{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}, and his breeding was that of the "best [[Thessaly|Thessalian]] strain".

[[Plutarch]] says in 344 BC, at twelve or thirteen years of age, Alexander of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]] won the horse by making a wager with his father:<ref name="Clough">[[Arthur Hugh Clough]] (editor), [[John Dryden]] (translator), ''Plutarch's 'Lives''', vol. II, [[Modern Library]], [[2001 in literature|2001]]. {{ISBN|0-375-75677-9}}</ref> A horse dealer named Philonicus the Thessalian offered Bucephalus to [[Philip II of Macedon|King Philip II]] for the remarkably high sum of 13 [[talent (measurement)|talents]]. Because no one could tame the animal, Philip was not interested. However, Alexander was, and he offered to pay himself should he fail.

Alexander was given a chance and surprised all by subduing it. He spoke soothingly to the horse and turned it toward the sun so that it could no longer see its own shadow, which had been the cause of its distress. Dropping his fluttering [[cloak]] as well, Alexander successfully tamed the horse. Plutarch says that the incident so impressed Philip that he told the boy, "O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee."<ref name="Clough"/> Philip's speech strikes the only false note in the anecdote, according to A. R. Anderson,<ref>Anderson 1930:3 and 17ff.</ref> who noted his words as the embryo of the legend fully developed in the ''History of Alexander the Great'' I.15, 17.

The ''[[Alexander Romance]]'' presents a mythic variant of Bucephalus's origin. In this tale, the colt, whose heroic attributes surpassed even those of [[Pegasus]], is bred and presented to Philip on his own [[estate (land)|estate]]s. The mythic attributes of the animal are further reinforced in the romance by the [[Delphic Oracle]] who tells Philip that the destined king of the world will be the one who rides Bucephalus, a horse with the mark of the ox's head on his haunch.

== Alexander and Bucephalus ==
[[File:Alexander the Great mosaic.jpg|thumb|right|Alexander and Bucephalus in combat at the [[Battle of Issus]] portrayed in the [[Alexander Mosaic]]]]
As one of his chargers, Bucephalus served Alexander in numerous battles.

The value which Alexander placed on Bucephalus emulated his hero and supposed ancestor [[Achilles]], who claimed that his horses were "known to excel all others—for they are immortal. [[Poseidon]] gave them to my father [[Peleus]], who in his turn gave them to me."<ref>Homer, ''The Iliad'', Book XXIII.</ref>

[[Arrian]] states, with [[Onesicritus]] as his source, that Bucephalus died at the age of thirty. Other sources, however, give as the cause of death not old age or weariness, but fatal injuries at the [[Battle of the Hydaspes]] (June 326 BC), in which Alexander's army defeated [[King Porus]]. Alexander promptly founded a city, [[Alexandria Bucephalous|Bucephala]], in honour of his horse. It lay on the west bank of the [[Jhelum River|Hydaspes river]] (modern-day [[Jhelum (City)|Jhelum]] in [[Pakistan]]).<ref>Rolf Winkes, "Boukephalas", ''Miscellanea Mediterranea'' (''Archaeologia Transatlantica XVIII'') Providence [[2000 in literature|2000]], pp. 101–107.</ref> The modern-day town of [[Jalalpur Sharif]], outside Jhelum, is said to be where Bucephalus is buried.<ref>[[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]], "In the footsteps of Alexander the Great".</ref>

The legend of Bucephalus grew in association with that of Alexander, beginning with the fiction that they were born simultaneously: some of the later versions of the [[Alexander Romance]] also synchronized the hour of their death.<ref>Andrew Runni Anderson, "Bucephalas and His Legend" ''The American Journal of Philology'' '''51'''.1 (1930:1–21).</ref> The pair forged a sort of cult in that, after them, it was all but expected of a conqueror that he have a favourite horse. [[Julius Caesar]] had one; so too did the eccentric Roman Emperor [[Caligula]], who made a great fuss of his horse [[Incitatus]], holding birthday parties for him, riding him while adorned with Alexander's breastplate, and planning to make him a [[consul]].

== See also ==
* [[List of historical horses]]
* [[List of fictional horses]]
* [[Bucephalus (brand)]], an ox-head branding mark anciently used on horses
* [[Bucephalus (racehorse)]], an 18th-century Thoroughbred racehorse
* [[Bucephalus (trematode)|''Bucephalus'' (trematode)]], a trematode flatworm genus
* [[BTR-4]] "Bucephalus", Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Bucephalus}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons-inline}}

{{Short description|Alexander the Great's horse}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient individual animals]]
[[Category:Alexander the Great]]
[[Category:Alexander the Great in legend]]
[[Category:Ancient Greece]]
[[Category:History of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Individual warhorses]]
[[Category:Individual male horses]]

Bucephalus - Revision history

SabinaGuffey: Article updated with improved flow

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article