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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Monday, May 28, 2007

bucephalus

Alexander the Great had a horse which carried him from battle to battle, conquest to conquest, a partner in the art of war. Yet the legend is that Alexander won the heart of this horse through tenderness and friendship. His name was Bucephalus, a stallion of dark color and high temper, and he has become a figure as mythic as his owner. Pothos.org's page on him will illustrate thusly.

But Alexander had another side kick: his dog Peritas. He's mentioned offhandedly in Plutarch, so:

Alexander's beloved dog, was named Peritas after the Macedonian name for
the month of January. Alexander raised him from a puppy and when he died named a city after him (Plut., Vit. Alex. 61.3).

Michael Feldman over at Britannica.blog asserts that Peritas was a greyhound and met his doom by the crushing feet of King Darius's war elephants at the battle of Gaugamela.

Hi, Candace.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Peritas was supposedly a large Mastiff bitch. She was not trampled to death by one of Darius' elephants, but bit that elephant firmly on the lip, making it retreat and thus saving Alexander's life. I believe this is fairly well documented, as Alexander went around erecting monuments to his beloved dog, praising her bravery and citing her actions and devotion in battle.