Bucephalus and his shadow

[jan]

This is just an anecdote. Reading about Bucephalus reminds me of a Breeder's Cup in the 80's in which I traveled to San Juan Down in Farmington, New Mexico to see the race. I always remember that in that particular Breeder's Cup, the one in which a horse by the name of Broad Brush came in to show, one of the horses was spooked by its shadow, and that cost it it's win or first place. Strange, isn't it? I wonder how many of the horsemen thought of Bucephalus then. I didn't learn of Bucephalus until most recently or I would have remarked upon it when it happened.

[dean]

Hello Jan,Just a couple of things.Bucephalus or Boukephalus in the Doric Macedonian dialect was seemingly a very obstinate creature until Philip II lost a bet to his son- who won it.The horse was sold, if the story is true, for an absolutely astronomical figure.Anyway to the point- what you say is interesting and Plutarch definitely points to sunlight being the cause of the horse's anxiety.Renault however opts for another possible version- that the horse had been handled roughly and was tempestuous as a result.I suppose both are possible answers.One more thing while we are talking about the horse- Bucephalus was supposedly a Thessalian racehorse- I presume that it must have taken some time to train in the arts of equine warfare although the romantic legend would have us believe that there was some kind of magical bond between Alexander and his horse which noone else could ride...Best wishes
Dean.

[jan]

Thanks, Dean, for that, and I am very impressed about Bucephalus being a race horse. That is fascinating! I believe I did make a mistake about Broad Brush. I believe it was in the Kentucky Derby that he came in to show. I noticed his tail when he entered the gate, and as he was a happy horse, with tail waving, it has always stayed in my mind. San Juan Downs is a very small track but a very nice one in Northern New Mexico, Farmington.And while I am on this subject, I will confide an experience about Alexander that I had a week ago last Friday, just before the Super Bowl. I will try to be brief.I had found a children's book on Alexander at Border's and my eyesight became very clear and well focused so that I resigned myself to admitting some facts about myself. That evening, during a news show on t.v, I went to sleep, and found myself back in the time of Alexander, presumably at the battle of Issus, and I am in the person of Alexander, rallying and encouraging the troops. I got an idea of the uniforms, the appearance of all the troops, and the kind of personality and character of Alexander then. I left the scene of the that, able to see in spirit all the troops and Alexander as he looked then, and am back in this time period thinking about its relationship to the problem in Iraq. Fortunately, I just read MIchael Wood's Footsteps of Alexander which is posted on the web, and saw what is meant by the comparison of Alexander to Saddam Hussein and modern day troops in Iraq and neighborhood. (I have been very hard on the means to get Saddam Hussein out of power as I am not for preemptory strikes.) So I reconsidered my thoughts on this subject, and contemplated on Alexander. One thing that is clear to me is that history is never accurately reported even by the best of intentions.However, I have undergone a great personality change since that event, and some of that which is of Alexander has penetrated through to this day.The thing that I found most important is his assertiveness, his great vitality, and power. I have always believed that his religious faith served him well, but since that experience I am convinced that he is full of greater vitality, energy, and stamina than we know and experience in today's lifestyle.At any rate, Tampa Bay won decisively, and his troops made me think of them, so it all worked out wonderfully for the Bucs. I am on record as being for the Bucs since they had come across from Tampa Bay to Clearwater

[John]

You must be a fan of "Chucky" (Jon Gruden).http://www.chucky-online.com/He was in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area, head coach of Oakland, then last year, he went to Tampa Bay. So what did he do in the playoffs? First, he blasted San Francisco out of the picture. Then, in the Super Bowl, he blasted out Oakland.How did you tie horses into this? The closest thing to a horse-horseman in football is the Center-Quarterback. Look what happened to Oakland's All Pro Center the day before the game; he had some sort of panic-attack, and ended up in the hospital, instead of the Super Bowl, totally messing up Oakland's morale. Who spooked THAT horse.How did you tie Iraq into this? What about a higher horse? The US space shuttle "workhorse." It was carrying an Israeli, who flew one of the 8 planes that bombed Iraq in 1981. This horse flew on a path right over San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area, heading towards Tampa Bay. But it broke up, and painted a broad brush of debris, from Palestine, Texas on.By the way, how did you survive re-entry from being in Alexander's body some 2,300 years ago at the battle of Issus, back to the present? Your post seems a little scattered. And what is a female doing in a male body?John

[jan]

Thanks for your message. I really like this system. Your remarks on re-entry are choice, and I appreciate the workhorse terminology.As you noted about the workhorse that blew up in space, that has been brought to my attention through the local news organization when one of the news anchors told a story about an incident which occurred to me years ago when I was teaching in California. In the Arena, (I was advisor to the Forum) there is an autograph to me from one of my students who has me tied to a rocket going up into space. Kids being what they are, he has written my last name to the stick person tied to the rocket (I have been tied up twice now in that school district as one was on April Fools Day for a Revolutionary spoof on the front pages of the school newspaper)The Forum, and anyway, I was reminded by the local news of the yearbook in which one of my students has me flying off to space on a rocket. This is a long ongoing joke, so that is also the year of the school play The NIght of January 16, so that I realized that the space group is spoofing our school and yours truly also in some of the shananigans that they played in outer space. This tragedy caused me to look up this copy of the Arena, and I find that numerous tragedies have played out since I moved to Arizona, beginning with the OJ Simpson trial even as one of the funny policemen of that trial are citing the lines from the school play, something to the effect of Perfect World.At any rate, this is also the yearbook in which my picture looks the most like that of Alexander on the cover of the book titled Alexander the Great and HIs Times. Small world!Reentry from going back to the land of the living dead is quite interesting. I had once tried to see if my soul had a connection to Alexander and all I could see was his armor plate, a scene with him kneeling in front of some babe of a woman and suckling on her breast, and two more kissing scenes as he had four wives and each wife is portrayed with his kissing them. I sketched these in my sketch book, as I was a bit afraid what it would be like if I went into his skin, never thinking that I could or would as it is all preChristian era. Arthur Weigall's book which was published before I was born has such a likeness to me in personality and character that I began to see the similarities between this mythical character and myself, and wondering why. So it was due to my breaking down when I went to Borders and found the book and

[John]

Interesting rocket story. It reminds me of another rocket story:When Alexander came to Tyre, he wanted to go into the city to sacrifice to Hercules, but the Tyrians wouldn't let him. So, Alexander, furious, besieged Tyre for seven months. When he finally got in, he paid his honor to Hercules and, also, found that the Tyrians had chained Apollo's statue down during the siege, afraid that Apollo would go over to Alexander's side. So Alexander unchained Apollo's statue.To show thanks, Apollo, 2,300 years later, in the form of a rocket (Apollo 11), blasted off to the moon, carrying Neil Armstrong (Armstrong = Hercules?) to make the first step on the moon on Alexander's birthday, July 20, 1969.John

[jan]

Thanks so much for that information. I just found an interesting joke today about why banks tie pens down or chain them while leaving their doors wide open. Made me think of your message.I will call it Apollo the Pen.My first grade teacher at Franklin School is a woman by name of Armstrong, and my tenth grade teacher in high school for world history is also an Armstrong.I had not known that NASA had planned the landing of the moon in connection with Alexander. That is most interesting and quite exciting. I am sure that Alexander would love that.Neil Armstrong is from Wapakoneta, Ohio, which is a member of the same football league that my high school had played. My high school is the one that won all their games for five years straight! My brother played on the team, and the entire time I was in high school, we never suffered a loss.Too bad Neil Good is my class mate and not Neil Armstrong. Such is life!I really like that. Today's United Nations spectacular made me think of Alexander the Great and Louis XIV. Since I had had this experience, I realize how like fire Alexander is, and how like oil Louis XIV is, and so today's experience watching the program caused me to realize the internal differences between the two major figures in World History.funny how close my name comes to spelling jet fuel. I know that everyone in the world is aware of it. When TWA went down, much was made of it.I really think it interesting that NASA knows how to contrive the Moon Landing with Alexander the Great. I am glad that you brought it to my attention. Most people believe that everything around that landing is contrived, especially the quotation. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Do you suppose his footsteps are still there?I suppose because Alexander thought of himself as the son of Zeus that means he is Apollo. And I had always only associated him with Miss Armstrong due to the Gordian Knot. He just pulled the right ends of the rope and VOILA! He became King of the World!

[John]

I'm not saying NASA deliberately planned that out, but the whole program was named after Apollo. Arthur C. Clarke said something about them naming a craft on Apollo 13 Odyssey, after his book 2001: A Space Odyssey. Then, just like in his work 2001, something also went wrong with the Apollo 13 Odyssey. But when people asked him if he named HAL (the computer that went bad) so it would be one step ahead of IBM (H-I;A-B;L-M), he said no.Anyway, I like the way Neil Armstrong took over manual control from the computer, when he was landing the Eagle on the moon. Otherwise, it would have crashed into the side of a crater or something, and they would have been doomed.What does this have to do with Alexander? Oh, yeah, his birthday! Have you seen 2001: A Space Odyssey? How could that fetus at the end of the movie survive re-entry?John

[John]

OK I figured out on my own how that fetus at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey could survive re-entry:He could float his fetus bubble to the space station, go in through the airlock, then take a re-entry vehicle (preferably named Bucefalus) down to the earth.John

[jan]

Now I know why they gave me a computer for the visually impaired. If you could see this type, and it is on an enlarged screen, you would laugh out loud! I think I read your message or I would not be able to answer this. Something to do with re-entry for a fetus at the end of the movie, if I am correct.I always figure that by the time the space machine traveled from its origins the fetus has matured so that when it lands safely in the garden of Eden, it opens up so that adam and eve are fully matured; apparently, they are twins, fraternal of course.Maybe Alexander and Roxanne?

[John]

Oh, you must not have seen the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey! The main character was named David Bowman; maybe I was reminded of it by Dean Archer above (Bowman = Archer?). Also, David Bowie did a spoof of this movie in his song Space Oddity.John