Bucephalus
Taming of Bucephalus
!A statue by [John Steell showing Alexander taming Bucephalus](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Alexander%26BucephalusbyJohnSteell.JPG/250px-Alexander%26BucephalusbyJohnSteell.JPG)
Taming of Bucephalus
A massive creature with a massive head, Bucephalus is described as having a black coat with a large white star on his brow. He is also supposed to have had a "wall eye" (blue eye), and his breeding was that of the "best Thessalian strain".
Taming of Bucephalus
Alexander was given a chance and surprised all by subduing the horse. He spoke soothingly to the horse and turned its head 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." Philip's speech strikes the only false note in the anecdote, according to A. R. Anderson, who noted his words as the embryo of the legend fully developed in the History of Alexander the Great I.15, 17.
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