Bucephalus

• Mythical Number: #3901
• Culture:   Greek
• Attribute:   Celestial
• Attribute:   Mount
• Behaviour:   Friendly
• Common Type:   Unicorns

This was the horse of Alexander the Great. Since Alexander the Great was seen as a god or descendent of a god he could not ride something so simple as a mundane horse. Thus Bucephalus was seen as a mythical creature. Bucephalus was born from a most powerful and strong horse famed in the land. Bucephalus grew up to be an incredibly wild and formidable horse that no one could tame. According to legend King Philip had a competition to see who could overcome the untameable horse. Everyone failed including King Philip himself! Then to people’s amusement Alexander as a young boy came to tame the horse. The hose remained calm with and when he mounted the beast he had great control over it. Another tale states that the horse was kept in a prison and was seen to be of no use since in could not be trained and so it was to be put to death. Alexander saw potential in the beast and bet his father that he could train the horse himself. When he did the two formed a life-long bond.

The name Bucephalus means ‘ox-head’ which implied to some that it had at least one horn on its head. In subsequent medieval scripts Alexander the Great is seen as riding a horse with one or two horns. Furthermore, Bucephalus was described as ‘anthrophagos’ a man-eating beast. Bucephalus is referenced in the Bible as a part of one of Daniel’s visions:

(Book of Daniel, 8:5):
“And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.”

Give Bucephalus a rating:

  

    Bucephalus is awesome. (18 votes)

• 5 = I want Bucephalus as my pet!
• 4 = Awesome.
• 3 = Interesting.
• 2 = Nothing special.
• 1 = Bucephalus should be put in a recycling bin.