The story of Alexander and Bucephalus begins as a very Macedonian scene: a high-priced gamble, a dangerous animal, and a crowd watching a royal humiliation. Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse to Philip II at Pella, asking thirteen talents—a colossal price in any ancient army economy. Philip’s handlers tried the stallion and found him violent and unmanageable; the king dismissed the purchase as madness. Livius 1 Alexander, still a youth, asked for a chance. In Plutarch’s version, he noti