The Alexander mosaic
Subtitle: stories of victory and defeat
By: Ada Cohen.
Series: Cambridge studies in classical art and iconography
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
Subjects: Alexander, the Great, 356-323 B.C. -- Art.; Darius III, King of Persia, d. 330 B.C. -- Art.; Alexander mosaic (Pompeii); Mosaics, Roman -- Italy -- Pompeii (Extinct city); Pavements, Mosaic -- Italy -- Pompeii (Extinct city); Issus, Battle of, Turkey, 333 B.C., in art.
Description: The Alexander Mosaic: Stories of Victory and Defeat focuses on one of the richest, most complex and visually stunning monuments of classical antiquity. Contributing to a vast tradition of scholarship, which dates back to the discovery of the Mosaic in 1831, Ada Cohen here engages with, but departs from, a core of positivist assumptions that characterize this literature.

In this study, she examines the Mosaic as it may have functioned in two different contexts, first as a Greek painting of the fourth century B.C., and then as a Roman mosaic of ca. 100 B.C. A variety of interpretive issues regarding history and art history are thus foregrounded, which have broader implications for the study of ancient monuments.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-270) and index.