Alexander Mosaic

The so-called Alexander mosaic was discovered in the excavations of Pompeii in the Casa del Fauno (House of the Faun ) on October 24, 1831.

A commonly held opinion is that the mosaic of the Battle of Issus (333 BC) between the forces of Alexander the Great and Darius III. depicting. However, other historians say that it may be ( BC 331), the Battle of Gaugamela, where Alexander once again tried to capture or kill Darius. Both kings - to the left of Alexander the Great, at the right hand of Darius III. - Face to face to face. Here Alexander the unconditional will to take the Persian king in battle, and since Darius turned his body already to escape, but as it were the enemy in view.

The 5.82 × 3.13 m wide Alexander mosaic is created between the middle and the end of the 2nd century BC. With some certainty the mosaic of a template is derived from that which no longer exists today. In the original it could be a work of Philoxenus of Eretria, who lived in the 4th century BC. This is in research but controversial. The original was probably inserted as a panel in a wall. The image field of the mosaic consists of small stones, of which about 5-6 go on a cm ²; on the whole, there are about 1 million The stones are as small as possible and were subordinated by dense merger so the color that forms a color continuum.

Also controversial is the origin of the mosaic. It is possible that even repaired in antiquity damages derived from the work transport to Pompeii or of an earlier earthquake in 79 AD buried city.

The Alexander mosaic is now exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.