The king now conducted a rapid punitive expedition against the Mardians, ‘a people of rude habits of life and accustomed to brigandage’, who later supplied him with some first-class archers. His main object was probably to round up new cavalry mounts without paying for them: the Mardians were great horsemen. They retaliated, in kind, by stealing Bucephalas [to call Bucephalas Alexander’s favorite horse is an understatement] – a joke Alexander failed to appreciate. He let it be known that if the horse was not returned ‘they should see the country laid waste to its furthest limit and its inhabitants slaughtered to a man’.
The Mardians, realizing that he was in deadly earnest, sent Bucephalas back at once. They also dispatched no less than fifty tribal elders, bearing rich gifts, to convey their profound apologies. Alexander accepted the presents – and coolly retained the leaders of this delegation as hostages for the tribe’s future good conduct.
Source:
Green, Peter. “The Lord of Asia.” Alexander of Macedon: 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography. Univ. of California Press, 2005. 332-33. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Alexander’s shortage of horses: Justin 12.1.2; Plin. HN 12.18.34.
Expedition against the Mardi: Diod. 17.76.3-8; QC 6.5.11-21; Arrian 3.24.1-3, 5.19.4-6; Plut. Alex. 44.2-3, 45.3, Moral. 341B.
Further Reading:
Βουκέφαλος (Bucephalus or Bucephalas)
Alexander III of Macedon / Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας (Alexander the Great)
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