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They Hunted Tigers, continued
V. ALEXANDER OF MACEDONIA (356-323)
Most horse lovers know the story of Alexander of Macedonia and his beloved stallion Bucephalus, a horse so wild that only he could ride it. But while Bucephalus started his life as racehorse of the Thessalonian breed, Alexander turned him into a quality warhorse. The Thessalonian horses were reputed to be the fastest horses in Greece. Xerxes during his conquest of Greece stopped in Macedonia long enough to challenge the legendary Macedonian mares. The Persian horses soundly defeated them. But mounted on his fiery stallion. Alexander created the first successful Greek cavalry, which he used to conquer the Persian Empire. One of his most famous battles, the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, showed the efficiency of a well-trained cavalry. General Parmenion had to face the Persian cavalry, which was described by one author as having the fluid nature of an avalanche, devastating everything in its path. But it was Alexander and his Companions who took the day for the Greeks when he attacked the Persian center where Darius was waiting. Only a screening charge by his brother Oxathres saved the Persian king, who fled from the battlefield and demoralized his troops. The Persian cavalry became unnerved when they heard the announcement that the king was fleeing. In a panic, they turned to follow. The pursuing Thessalonian cavalry cut down 10,000 of them.
Alexander's conquest of Persia is well documented, but one has to look closely for the excerpts that discuss the imperial Nisean. Needing replacement and refusing to ride just any horse, Alexander went looking for the imperial stud farms, even holding towns hostage until they handed over the valuable horses. From Phrygia to Sogdiana, he captured horses and took them with him. Elwin Hartley Edwards in his New Encyclopedia of the Horse even called the famous Niseans of Ferghana, Alexander's Niseans. This may not be entirely wishful thinking. In 329 BC, Alexander founded Alexandria Eskhata (modern Khojend, Tajikistan) at the mouth of the Ferghana Valley to protect his empire from marauding Scythians. He is closer to Kokand (75 miles away), where the Chinese obtained their horses, than he was to Samarkand, the capital of Sogdiana. But in 328 BC he was staying in Samarkand and during a drunken rage murdered General Cleitus, a man he owed his life to. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective, his troops prevent him from taking his own life.
In 329, he married the Sogdian princess, Rushnak (Roxane), at a place called Balkh in what is now Afghanistan. In fact, his princess, renowned for her beauty, had been captured at Uoteppa, only forty miles the future site of Alexandria Eskhata. But from there he takes a side trip to Nisa (now in Turkmenistan). Why would Alexander, a passionate horseman, go to the place where the great Persian warhorse was bred? Could it be he needed remounts for his upcoming campaign against the fortress Massaga? Or his winter campaign in Swat Valley? His ego demanded he ride only the best? How about all of the above?
But what about the Sogdian fortresses in the valley? Once Sogdiana became a reliable ally, there was no need to enter the valley and reinforce them with Greek troops. Messengers from those outposts routinely reported the news whereabouts of the wandering nomads to Alexander's generals. When he died in 323 BC, his kingdom was divided among his generals. Egypt went to Ptolemy, the Middle East to Seleucus, and Antigonus claimed Greece. Farther east was the Greek kingdom of Bactria with its capital at Balkh, technically a part of the Seleucid Empire but quasi-independent since it was not as powerful as the other three. The last Greek king, Meander, died in 145 BC, and by 130 BC, the Yeuh-chih (A Tocharian and Scythian alliance) had taken control of the region. (Much of this information will be useful in understanding Part II)
A word about Bucephalus, Ox-head: Much has been made over why he was called that. This is a theory based on some historical facts. In 480 BC when Xerxes attempted to conquer Greece, he stopped by Thessalonia to see the famous racing mares of that region. Those much-celebrated mares lost to his horses. Thessalonia and Macedonia did not resist Xerxes' attempt to conquer the region and even helped him on several occasions. Xerxes' Nisean horses had several interesting traits that they passed on to their descendents. One of them was a bony knob on their foreheads often referred to as horns. It was well within Xerxes' nature, flushed with success over defeating this famous breed of racehorses, to leave behind a stallion or two of the Nisean breed to 'improve' the defeated line. The Spartans would do this exact thing after the Battle of Plataea with great success at the Olympics for at least a hundred years. So was Bucephalus called Ox-head because he was stubborn or because he was a handsome ram headed horse with 'horns' like an ox? If he was a descendent of the Thessalonian mares covered by the Persian stallions, it is every bit conceivable that Alexander's favorite stallion was indeed ox headed like the Carthusian, Lusitano, and Spanish Mustang.
Ancient History, page 6
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