Alexander the Great and Bucephalus

When Alexander the Great was a boy around 344 BCE, age twelve to thirteen he received a horse by making a wager with his father. Philonicus the Thessalian, a horse dealer, offered Bucephalus to King Philip II for a high amount of 13 talents. He named his horse Bucephalus after a branding mark that looked like an Ox's head on his haunch. The horse was a Thessalonian, they were used in Greek and Roman cavalry, they are now extinct. Apparently, the horse was afraid of its own shadow, so to mount it Alexander had to turn him towards the sun so his shadow was behind him and then climb on. Alexander and his horse were inseparable from the day they met and only Alex can ride him. They rode into every war together. From conquests of the Greek city-states and Thebes to Gaugamela and into India they were always together. After they defeated Darius Buelphalus was horse-napped while Alexander was away. When he returned and heard what had happened he said he would lay waste to the countryside and take down every tree until he got his horse back to him. Eventually, he was returned. The horse eventually died, most say from old age after the Battle of Hydaspes River in 326 BCE. Alexander was devastated and in mourning, he named a city Bucephalus after his horse.