Event Title
What Is a King Without His Horse? Exploring Monarchy, Conquest, and Legitimacy through Alexander and Bucephalus
Session
Session 6: Horses and Identity
Location
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
Start Date
1-10-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
1-10-2023 10:30 AM
Description
The ‘taming’ of Bucephalus by a young Alexander the Great is one of the most iconic events of his adolescent years. The story as recounted in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander is variously used as an example of Alexander’s precociousness, as foreshadowing of his military conquests and, of course, as an early example of a need to out-do his father Philip in everything. It is also tempting to brand the Alexander-Bucephalus tale as representation of hyper-masculinity: male domination over a ‘violent’ and unruly stallion, but this is not the case. There is much more to the story. At the root of it is a relationship between boy and horse founded in an understanding of equine behaviour. Moreover, the ‘horse and his boy’ motif went on to become a common literary and visual trope, as exemplified in books like Walter Farley’s Black Stallion; this motif owes is origins to Plutarch’s account and the subsequent ‘mythologizing’ of the Alexander-Bucephalus story, and the enduring nature of this motif speaks to the tangible experience of the human-equine bond.
This paper will explore the significance of the Alexander-Bucephalus tale within the context of the human-equid relationship by examining how Bucephalus became central to Alexander’s identity, both during his own lifetime and as part of his historical legacy, and how this came to shape the ways in which horses came to provide a form of legitimacy and authority through their association with particular individuals.
Recommended Citation
Willekes, Carolyn, "What Is a King Without His Horse? Exploring Monarchy, Conquest, and Legitimacy through Alexander and Bucephalus" (2023). Equine History Collective Conference. 3.
https://docs.rwu.edu/equinehistory-conference/2023/sunday/3
What Is a King Without His Horse? Exploring Monarchy, Conquest, and Legitimacy through Alexander and Bucephalus
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
The ‘taming’ of Bucephalus by a young Alexander the Great is one of the most iconic events of his adolescent years. The story as recounted in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander is variously used as an example of Alexander’s precociousness, as foreshadowing of his military conquests and, of course, as an early example of a need to out-do his father Philip in everything. It is also tempting to brand the Alexander-Bucephalus tale as representation of hyper-masculinity: male domination over a ‘violent’ and unruly stallion, but this is not the case. There is much more to the story. At the root of it is a relationship between boy and horse founded in an understanding of equine behaviour. Moreover, the ‘horse and his boy’ motif went on to become a common literary and visual trope, as exemplified in books like Walter Farley’s Black Stallion; this motif owes is origins to Plutarch’s account and the subsequent ‘mythologizing’ of the Alexander-Bucephalus story, and the enduring nature of this motif speaks to the tangible experience of the human-equine bond.
This paper will explore the significance of the Alexander-Bucephalus tale within the context of the human-equid relationship by examining how Bucephalus became central to Alexander’s identity, both during his own lifetime and as part of his historical legacy, and how this came to shape the ways in which horses came to provide a form of legitimacy and authority through their association with particular individuals.
