Bucephalus Coffee Mug

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", or blue eye, and his breeding was that of the "best Thessalonian strain." Plutarch tells the story of how, in 344 BC, a ten-year-old Alexander won the horse. Philonicus the Thessalian, a horse dealer, offered the horse to King Philip II for the sum of thirteen talents, but, since no one could tame the animal, Philip was not interested. His son Alexander, however, was, and promised to pay for the horse himself should he fail to tame it. He was given a chance and surprised all by subduing it. He spoke soothingly to the horse and turned it towards 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."