Bucephalus's story (Prologue)

Prologue

21 July, 356BC

On the day of Alexander the Great's birth, another event took place that had a profound impact on humanity. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey) was burnt to the ground by a man named Herostratus. Under torture, he confessed that he had sought glory and fame at any cost, and had seen no other way of achieving this. He was brought before the courts, and before the people, who looked on him, filled with hatred and disgust.

But if the judges and the crowd had been less blinded by anger, they would have noticed the Sibyl, lit up in the surrounding darkness by the dying glow from the burning temple. The old woman's eyes rolled back and she began to convulse violently, crying out in a prophetic trance. A priest who had survived the blaze took her in his arms before she collapsed into a coma that was to last for several days. He later engraved the Sibyl’s words onto a copper tablet. She had spoken with what seemed to be the voice of the gods of Olympus:

*Great is the wrath of Artemis, daughter of Zeus. She would have punished the perpetrator of this mortal sacrilege herself. She would have pierced his heart with one of her silver arrows had an urgent duty not kept her away. The goddess even now watches over the birth of the child who will enforce respect for the gods throughout the earthly kingdom. Artemis, goddess of the hunt, of wild animals and the wilderness, goddess of midwives and goddess of the Great Bear constellation, took a star from the Centaurus constellation and offered it to the child in order to guide him to his glorious destiny. He will thus fall under the protection of that mythical being, half-man and half-horse, and his destiny shall be linked to Chiron and to horses.*

*But this insult by Herostratus must never be permitted to happen again. Man must never again compete with the gods. Delusions of grandeur and glory are human weaknesses that must not be allowed to jeopardise the realm of the gods, nor of man. Artemis then gifted the star with another power: if, by misfortune, its bearer were to succumb to madness or rage, or should his ambition exceed reason, the star would lead him to ruin.*

*for as long as he keeps the star no man will be able to defeat him. As long as he remains humble and honest in his deeds, as long as he remains moderate and wise, he will be invincible. But if he falters, he will be consumed by the wrath of Zeus.*

At that moment, the child who would one day become Alexander the Great, one of the greatest conquerors in the world, uttered his first cry.

Through the pain of childbirth, Queen Olympias, priestess of Zeus and the ambitious wife of Philip II of Macedonia, heard the oracle of Artemis as an omen. But despite the exhaustion, a victorious smile played across her lips. What mother does not dream of an exceptional destiny for her child? With the help of the gods, she would do everything she could to educate Alexander and elevate him to the rank destined for him. He would accomplish her own dreams of power and eternal glory. She did not believe the Sibyl’s warning. If Alexander were to enjoy the protection of the gods, why should he show moderation and restraint? He would be the greatest of all men, a leader of armies who would be revered until the end of time.

When the midwife handed the newborn to his mother, Olympias took him in her arms and embraced him tenderly. She then felt a sharp point digging into the crook of her neck. Holding him away from her, she noticed a bronze star clutched tight within her child’s fist. Then and there she recognised the power of this star, an object that was intended for Alexander and Alexander alone. Thinking that the Oracle had addressed her alone, she believed that nobody else knew about the star. However, the midwife had seen the star of Artemis and Olympias could not risk the secret being disclosed. The midwife who posed such a threat died swiftly at the fangs of the snakes that watched over Olympias as she slept. The star belonging to Artemis, daughter and messenger of Zeus, would be the secret symbol of the gods’ covenant which was to render Alexander both invincible and immortal.

A second Temple of Artemis was built in the middle of the fourth century BC on the remains of the first. The temple would later be pillaged by the Ostrogoths in 263AD, and then burnt by the Christians in 401AD. Emperor Justinian destroyed it definitively by taking away some of the columns in order to build the Great Palace of Constantinople. Like so many after him, Justinian spent much time trying to decipher the meaning of the words engraved on the copper plaque he’d found on one of the stone columns. Who wouldn't dream of possessing the star of the all-powerful gods? He would keep the engraved prophecy in his palace, rolled up inside a huge Byzantine carpet, which would be hidden in his extensive library along with all his other treasures.

As luck, or fate, would have it, Alexander passed through Ephesus when he was twenty-three years old and even offered to give the Greeks gold to rebuild the temple. But the populace were afraid and refused his offer. So he continued on his journey, never once setting eyes on the copper plaque fixed to one of the columns in the Naos, the inner sanctum of the temple.