Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Alexander the Great's Horse

Alexander,the Greek conqueror,showed great grief when his horse died.Hephaestion,being ill,was put on a strict diet,but in the absence of his physician at the theater he ate a roasted fowl and drank a flagon of iced wine,in consequence of which he died.Thereupon Alexander decided upon a display of grief.He had the physician crucified.He ordered every horse and mule in Persia to be shorn,and pulled down the battlements of the neighboring cities.He prohibited all music in his camp for a long time,and,having taken certain villages of the Cusaeans,he caused all the adults to be massacred as a sacrifice to the manes of Hephaestion.Finally,he set aside the enormous amount of ten thousand talents for a tomb for his beloved horse.

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