Κοππατίας

They used to call [koppatias, "koppa-branded"] horses, on which the letter k was branded,¹ just like they used to call "san-bearing" those branded with "san", a sigma and a nu.² Those brandings are still used on horses. For the shape of the number 90 (ϟ), formed by joining kappa and sigma, should be understood here; koppa precedes it.³ For that is how the grammarians teach us, and ϟ is called koppa.⁴ Some explained koppatias as cutting (ko/ptw) the ground with their hoofs; but they do not speculate rightly.⁵ After all, we do not call [horses] ox-heads [Boukephalos] because that is their shape, but because that is how they are branded.⁶ That is what I think Alexander's horse [Boukephalos] was like.⁷ And when Boukephalos died, Alexander built [the city of] Boukephalos Alexandria,⁸ dedicating the city as a memorial to [the horse's] virtue.