78 Alexander Mosaic

Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker provide a description, historical perspective, and analysis of the Alexander Mosaic.

Alexander Mosaic, c. 100 BCE, tessera mosaic from the House of the Faun, Pompeii, 8 feet 11 inches × 16 feet 9 inches (this Roman floor mosaic may be based on a lost Hellenistic painting by Philoxenos of Eretria, The Battle of Issus, c. 315 BCE), Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

Note on the Battle

Scholars continue to debate whether this mosaic depicts the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE or the Battle of Gaugamela two years later in 331.

Note on the Mosaic

A replica was installed in the House of the Faun, Pompeii. The original mosaic was uncovered at the House of the Faun in 1841 and moved to Naples two years later. In 2003, Severo Bignami and a team from the International Center for the Study and Teaching of Mosaic in Ravenna, began work on a replica mosaic. The project took 22 months and was installed at the House of the Faun in 2005.