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Meaning & History
Means "ox-head" in Ancient Greek. From the Ancient Greek βούς (bous) 'ox' and κεφαλή (kephalē) 'head'. Bucephalus was the horse of Alexander the Great, and one of the most famous horses of antiquity. Ancient accounts state that Bucephalus died after the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, in what is now modern Pakistan, and is buried in Jalalpur Sharif outside of Jhelum, Pakistan. Another account states that Bucephalus is buried in Phalia, a town in Pakistan's Mandi Bahauddin District, which is named after him.In author Franz Kafka's story 'The New Lawyer' (1916), Bucephalus is a bar-approved lawyer who immerses himself 'in law books ... far from the tumult of Alexander's battles'. In the 2006 novel by Katharine Roberts 'I am the Great Horse', the life of Alexander and his horse are told from the viewpoint of Bucephalus.