Transcript
Book 1, Chapter Three: The Taming of Bucephalus, Pages 59 and 60
Long ago,
before Alexander was born,
the oracle of Delphi once told Philip
that the hero who tames the monster horse in his possession
shall someday be master of your world.
That is what the poets and painters claimed as true.
And so it will be.
This time,
and once more.
(On the left page is a flashback, depicting Philip witnessing the mystique of the oracle, shrouded under clouds of prophetic smoke. On the right page is the present, showing Alexander and his monster horse proudly basking, head high, under the blessing of the sun.)
Chapter Three 059-060
This bit’s from the original recensions of the Alexander Romance. (Book 1, Chapter 15)
Footnotes:
The pythia of Delphi would sit on a tall-legged tripod chair placed over the cracks on the floor of the temple, which emitted hallucinogenic vapors – the source of her prophecies. She carried a sprig of laurel and a scrying bowl containing spring water. The place where she sat was off-limits to outsiders.
Red-figure kylix drawing of the pythia, Kodros Painter (440-430 BCE), Altes Museum.
Philip wouldn’t be there in person, in real life or the Romance. But well, the things I do to make the visuals work.
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