The Alexander Mosaic, c.100 B.C., Mosaic tesserae
2.72 by 5.13 metres (8 ft 11 in × 16 ft 10 in)
Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples
#HOCW42: The Alexander mosaic. From Pompeii, Italy. Circa 100 BCE, copy of an early 3rd century BCE painting.
This mosaic, featuring the clash between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, ranks among some of the most famous works of art from the ancient world. It is made up – as the close-up image of Alexander shows – of millions of tiny tesserae, tiny coloured tiled arranged together to form the scene. It was originally set in the floor of the tablinum or 'receiving room' of the House of the Faun in Pompeii, but now resides in the Archaeological Museum at Naples (a modern copy stands in its place in Pompeii). Although it is dated to around 100 BCE, it is likely that it was a copy of an earlier Hellenistic painting dating to the early 3rd century BCE, not long after Alexander's death in 323 BCE. It's fascinating to compare the depiction of Alexander here with his image on contemporary coins like the one minted by Lysimachus.