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Hi folks it has sometimes been argued about Alexanders hair not been blonde, maybe even brown as shown in the Alexander mosaic.As point I dont really think any great detail can be taken from the mosaic,as it has the colour of Bucephalus as brown.I am not sure but always believed Alexander used his great horse at least up until Gaugamella,so to have him as brown is very wrong,all sourses say the horse was indeed black.regards kenny

Hi Kenny,Sorry if this appears to be a challenge, because it's not - it's an innocent question, pure and simple:In which sources does it actually say that Boukephalos was a black horse?I ask because as soon as I read your post I thought "yes, that is the received wisdom, but I can't remember ever actually reading it in the sources."All the bestMarcus

Good question, Marcus. As for the hair colour of Alexander, he was more than likely coppery-haired as the pebble mosaics at Pella show.

Indeed,Kenny,If you look very close (magnify) you can see shades of light colored hair on Alexander's head in the mosaic, the validation of the mosaic darkening with age has always been argued.

When it comes to the mosaics darkening over the passing of time, I've just returned from Istanbul. There I have visited the Church of the Holy Savior of Chora. I can assure you that the colours of its wonderfull mosaics have definatelly not darkened over the centuries and the mistreatment of the Ottomans: http://tallis.umd.edu/~pfeifer/turkey/images/I/29

Re the source for Bucephalos being black it is Arrian V 19 v '...others, however say he was black, except for a white mark on his head, which was exactly like an ox-head.' Normally this would mean that Ptolemy and Aristoboulos both said he was named for his brand, however it is not certain that they treated Alexander's childhood and it is probably safer to assume that Arrian is merely mentioning variants in that tradition and not retailing what he found in his chosen sources.

urus, aurochs=bovineSpeaking of variants, not all oxen have a white blaze mark on their forehead. Personally I feel the reason the name bucephalus was given to the horse Alexander befriended was due to it's mule like traits. One of my horses name is Sunny but we all call him bonehead for the same reason, don't get me wrong mules are smart (hybrid horse) and not all are sterile. Maybe the ancient Europeans used the same meaning, a large boned head without much room for the brain, therefore the advent of the name bucephalus for the horse and another meaning for bovine (big, slow in movement and reaction) especially when humans show a lack of common sense compared to simple horse sense. Just my opinion.

The blaze is meant to have been in the shape of an ox's head, not reminiscent of those on ox's heads.

Alexander went on to name his horse Bucephalus, which means Oxhead, as the horse had a rather sizeable head.


The above is the story I remember, I apologize for my lack of comprehension of your post please disregard my last two posts.

I actually understood that Bucephalas came from a breed of Thessalian horses that were marked by the sign of an ox (burning mark) to distinguish them from other breeds.Bucephalas' "ox-head" was not the horses head itself, but the marking somewhere on the horses shoulder or elsewhere.Isn't that the correct interpretation?Regards - Nick

Very good and acceptable and probably so, but from my experience with the horse I do like the bonehead theory even though it's my own. To have patients and the cunning to break a horse takes experience, time and good old fashion horse sense. This is one reason out of many why I think Alexander was ahead of his time.Regards,Andrew