Alexander Mosaic, c. 100 B.C.E., Roman copy of a lost Greek painting, House of the Faun, Pompeii, c. 315 B.C.E., Hellenistic Period (Archaeological Museum, Naples); speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker
[0:00] [music]
Dr. Steven Zucker: [0:05] In baseball, in soccer, sometimes sports announcers will look for the turning point of the game, and the scene that we’re looking at of battle, not sport — in fact, one of the most important battles in ancient history — is at that particular turning point, the moment when the great ruler of Persia turns and flees under the onslaught of the great Greek general Alexander.
Dr. Beth Harris: [0:30] Darius, the king of the Persians, has just ordered his troops to retreat.
Dr. Zucker: [0:34] There’s tremendous tension at this moment because we have this reversal of momentum, we can feel still the momentum that is moving in from the right because we can still see the Persian guards’ spears facing towards the Greeks.
[0:47] But just at that moment, of the largest objects in this mosaic, the chariot is being spun around and the tension and the torsion that’s required for that is creating this tremendous sense of dynamism.
Dr. Harris: [0:59] On the ground, we see the wounded and the dying.
Dr. Zucker: [1:02] One of my favorite details is the reflection of one of the Persian soldiers in his own shield.
Dr. Harris: [1:10] He’s looking at himself fallen in battle, perhaps about to die. I think my favorite part is the horse that’s part of the team leading Darius’ chariot. Almost all four hooves are off the ground. As it’s being pulled toward the left, its head turns to the right.
Dr. Zucker: [1:30] There is this almost frenetic quality to this image.
Dr. Harris: [1:33] And you have a sense of confidence when you look at Alexander’s face as he heads toward Darius. Darius looks fearful as he gestures toward Alexander. It looks to me as though Darius is almost pleading for the lives of his soldiers.
Dr. Zucker: [1:48] There is a look both of surprise, and worry, and of seeking compassion. I think that’s exactly right. Alexander is known ultimately for his compassion, at least towards Darius’ family.
Dr. Harris: [2:02] Alexander is the great Greek general, the founder of an enormous empire.
Dr. Zucker: [2:08] That’s right. He not only unifies Greece, but he will then move south into Egypt. He moves east into Persia, and he gets to the Indus Valley itself. He puts under Greece’s control an enormous area of the known world. All of these details are rendered in tiny pieces of stone and glass.
Dr. Harris: [2:28] We’re looking at a mosaic that we think is based on an ancient Greek painting. We hope it’s based on an ancient Greek painting, because almost nothing of ancient Greek painting survives. Pliny talked about how amazing Greek painting was.
Dr. Zucker: [2:45] Well, it’s true. When we think of Greek art, we think of Greek sculpture. We might think of Greek architecture, perhaps we think of Greek vase painting, but you’re absolutely right.
[2:53] In the ancient world, literature tells us that what the Greeks did better than anything was wall painting. We just don’t have any.
Dr. Harris: [2:59] So maybe this gives us some idea.
Dr. Zucker: [3:02] I do find it really interesting that the mosaic is almost empty at the top and is so much weighted down towards the bottom. Especially when we remember that this was based on a painting that would have been on a wall.
[3:15] This was intended to be seen vertically, at least initially. At least that’s our best guess.
Dr. Harris: [3:22] Art historians link this mosaic to a literary description of an ancient Greek painting by an artist named Philoxenes. In this literary source by Pliny, Philoxenes is said to have created a painting of the Battle of Alexander and Darius.
Dr. Zucker: [3:40] But here’s the problem. There were probably lots of paintings of that subject.
Dr. Harris: [3:44] We know for certain that there, for example, was a woman artist who painted this subject in ancient Greece as well.
Dr. Zucker: [3:48] This was an incredibly important confrontation between these two generals, between these two civilizations. I’m sure there were many more.
Dr. Harris: [3:57] But this is what we have and this is what was found. We have it because of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 [C.E.], which preserved under a layer of volcanic ash the city of Pompeii.
Dr. Zucker: [4:10] Including this mosaic.
Dr. Harris: [4:11] This was found on the floor between two peristyles. That is, between two open courtyards that were surrounded by columns in the largest and most elaborately decorated mansion in Pompeii, often called the House of the Faun, after a bronze sculpture of a faun that was found there.
Dr. Zucker: [4:32] The mosaic itself is of extraordinary quality. It’s not surprising that we find it in such a lavish environment as the House of the Faun. There are apparently a million and a half pieces of stone and glass that make up this mosaic.
Dr. Harris: [4:47] The quality is not just in the fineness of the materials but in the incredible naturalism of what we see here, which is what the ancient Greeks were known for.
[4:56] We have forms that, even with these tiny pieces of stone, we have a sense of modeling, of the use of light and dark to create a sense of three-dimensional forms. If we look at the horses or the faces of the figures, we see the turn of the face, the anatomy of the body.
Dr. Zucker: [5:13] Look at the foreshortening of the animals — for instance, of the horses.
Dr. Harris: [5:17] That ancient Greek knowledge of the human body, of how it moves through space, is so clear here.
Dr. Zucker: [5:23] And of course, all of this speaks to the Romans’ regard for the achievement of ancient Greek art.
Dr. Harris: [5:28] Sometimes it seems as though everyone in Pompeii wanted to imitate the ancient Greeks, to own copies of ancient Greek sculptures, ancient Greek paintings. There was a real mania, as in Rome itself, for ancient Greek culture.
[5:41] [music]
The Alexander Mosaic as seen on the wall of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii
A mighty general (Alexander the Great) charges on horseback across the field of battle. His spear makes contact with a soldier’s torso, who begins to recoil in pain and shock, on the verge of falling over the dead body of a horse strewn on the ground behind him. On the other side of the battlefield, a charioteer scrambles frantically to turn his horses around, trampling bodies beneath their hooves, in an attempt to get the opposing general (Darius) to safety.
These are just some of the evocative scenes depicted in the Alexander Mosaic.
Annotated detail, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
This battle is usually identified as the Battle of Issus, a great fight that occurred on November 5, 333 B.C.E. in what is now modern-day Turkey [1]. It took place between the (Hellenic League) forces of the Macedonian-Greek Alexander the Great and the (Achaemenid Persian) forces of Darius III—a struggle which would ultimately result in a victory for Alexander.
The mosaic in context
Detail of tesserae, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
The Alexander Mosaic (8 ft 11 in × 16 ft 10 in) is made up of approximately 1.5 million tesserae, which are small, cubed pieces of glass or stones cut into shape. The mostly earth-colored stones are remarkably tiny and used to emphasize the details of the scene. They are laid down in a style known as opus vermiculatum, a technique which is identified as “worm-like” due to the curved lines of tesserae placed to emphasize features and figures within the work.
The mosaic, which was created in the 2nd century B.C.E., once covered the entire floor of a room located between the two peristyle gardens of the large and grand House of the Faun in Pompeii. Today, a modern replica can be seen in Pompeii, while the original has been transferred to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (Naples National Archaeological Museum). The original mosaic survives in such good condition because it was protected by layers of ash from the 79 C.E. volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius until its rediscovery in 1831.
Modern Reconstruction of the Alexander Mosaic, in situ at the House of the Faun in Pompeii (closer view here)
The field of battle
Though parts of the mosaic have been damaged in the more than two millennia since its creation, much of the dramatic scene is still visible today.
Detail of Alexander the Great, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Near the left side of the mosaic, Alexander charges forward on his horse (named Bucephalus), fully armored, but wearing no helmet. His gaze is intense and confident, and his hair flies out behind him from the force of his forward momentum. His army follows closely as they advance towards the spear-carrying soldiers of the Persian army. In his right hand he holds a sarissa, a type of long spear invented by his father (Philip II, the former King of Macedon), which became an essential tool of Alexander and his forces as they conquered his empire.
Detail of Darius III, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Alexander rides towards the Persian army, led by Darius III, located on the right side of the mosaic, standing atop his chariot.
Detail of an impaled soldier (often identified as one of Darius’ kinsmen), jumping in front of the spear and taking the blow meant for his king (Darius III), Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Before Alexander’s spear can make contact with Darius, a man, often identified as one of Darius’ kinsmen, jumps in front of the spear and takes the blow meant for his king. Behind Darius and facing in the opposite direction, the charioteer frantically tries to wheel the chariot around. Holding the reins tightly with his left hand, he raises a whip in his right hand to spur the horses to move faster through the crowd of soldiers across a battlefield that is strewn with blood, bodies, and abandoned weapons. The shock of this moment is reflected in Darius’ face. The artist succeeds in capturing the devastation and fear in Darius’ facial expression. He desperately reaches out in vain towards his dying kinsman, looking towards Alexander.
Detail of Persian soldiers and Darius III in his chariot, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
The artist captures the frenzied movements and fearful eyes of the horses as they trample soldiers and Darius flees from the battle, eyes still fixed on Alexander.
Although Alexander wins this battle, Darius is the tallest figure in the mosaic, elevated by the chariot on which he stands and puts his grief on prominent display.
An artist’s skill
This mosaic is remarkable not just for representing this significant battle, but also for the level of detail and naturalism it displays. All of the figures from humans to horses are rendered with a sense of three-dimensional, naturalistic modeling. By the late classical period and into the Hellenistic period, representations of figures had shifted from classical idealism to humanistic depictions which emphasized realistic anatomy and emotion, as is evident here.
Detail of soldier’s face with tesserae arranged to create light and shadow, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
The tesserae are also used effectively to create light, shadow, and reflection. For example, there is a figure who has been knocked to the ground by the fleeing chariot. In a moment of introspection, he stares at the reflection of his own face on a shield, perhaps just before the moment of his own death. The incredible skill of the artist renders dynamic moments like these in realistic ways.
Detail of fallen soldier’s face reflected in a shield, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Though the landscape in which the battle takes place is a barren one with little suggestion of setting, the figures display three-dimensionality, an excellent example of how well the ancient Greeks understood the body and how it moved through space. This is evident, for example, in the foreshortening of figures like the horse near the center right of the mosaic. The horse’s flank also displays tonal gradation, where colors transition gradually from a lighter tone to a darker one.
Detail of foreshortened horse, Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Greek origins
Compared to the crowded and frenetic battle scene below, the top half of the composition is mostly empty, broken only by spears and a bare, gnarled tree.
So why is the top half of this mosaic so vacant? The answer likely lies in the mosaic’s origins.
This stunningly detailed floor mosaic is usually believed to be a copy of an earlier Greek wall painting. Ancient Greek paintings were a highly popular and respected art form, but unfortunately, examples today are nearly nonexistent. [2] Unlike Roman wall paintings which were painted directly on the wall and therefore fixed and immovable, Greek wall paintings were usually painted on panels which were inserted into walls. These panel paintings could be removed from the wall and replaced as desired. While this was very practical at the time, they were constructed from more impermanent materials which frequently do not survive.
As a painting, the scene would have been displayed on a vertical wall. Given the size, much of the top half of the composition would have been well above the heads of the viewers and therefore not as easily viewed or necessary to fill with objects and figures. We can get a sense of what this looks like today from the mosaic’s wall-mounted position in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Though the Greek paintings themselves no longer exist, their influence can be seen in Etruscan and Roman paintings and mosaics, such as this one. Alexander the Great employed many artists during his reign as did his father before him. As Alexander’s empire spread, so too did the artistic styles that began to develop during his lifetime. Even after his death, artists during the Hellenistic period copied or were influenced by these works.
This was a mosaic meant to impress. The House of the Faun is the single largest residence in Pompeii and one of the most opulently decorated. By choosing to showcase this scene in his house, which is a copy of such a famous work, it would suggest to guests that the owner was highly educated in Greek culture and speaks to the Roman fascination with Greek art.
A battle won
Although he was outnumbered by Darius’ forces, Alexander defeated him at the Battle of Issus. The battle was considered a turning point leading to the decline of Achaemenid power, and ultimately, paved the way for Alexander’s conquest, which culminated in him burning the Persian capital Persepolis in 330 B.C.E. Even though he died at the young age of 32, Alexander succeeded in creating one of the largest empires of the ancient world.
Empire of Alexander the Great, 334–328 B.C.E.
Although none of the original paintings of Alexander and Darius survive, the mosaic allows us to see what it may have looked like, capturing a moment in time during a frenetic and emotional battle. Even after more than 2,000 years, the mosaic continues to fascinate all those who look upon it.
Alexander Mosaic, created in the 2nd century B.C.E., from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, reconstructed in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
