Bole (mythology)

Bole (Po-le; simplified Chinese: 伯乐; traditional Chinese: 伯樂; pinyin: Bólè; Wade–Giles: Po²-le⁴) or Bo Le was a horse tamer in Spring and Autumn period, and the honorific name of Sun Yang (simplified Chinese: 孙阳; traditional Chinese: 孫陽; pinyin: Sūn Yáng; Wade–Giles: Sun¹ Yang²), who was a retainer of Duke Mu of Qin (r. 659-621 BCE) and a famous judge of horses. Bole was the legendary inventor of equine physiognomy ("judging a horse's qualities from appearance").

Sun Yang, with the Chinese surname Sun and given name Yang (of yin and yang), was renowned for his extraordinary understanding of horses. Sun Yang was given the Chinese honorific name Bole, and is also known Sun Bole (Henry 1987:28).

Bo means "eldest" and le means "pleasure; happiness"–was a mythological figure who first tamed horses. Bole's name was given to a star, from which he supervised the winged tianma "heavenly horses". Proposed locations of this Chinese star Bole are with Zaofu 造父 (the legendary charioteer, see below) in Zeta Cephei within Cepheus (Chinese astronomy) (Book of Jin, Spring 1988:198), or in the constellation Scorpius (Chinese astronomy) (Harrist 1997:135-6).

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