The Alexander Mosaic
This book 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 body of 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 BC, and then as a Roman mosaic of c. 100 BC. A variety of interpretive issues regarding history and art history are examined, suggesting broader implications for the study of ancient monuments.
- The first book-length study in English of the Alexander Mosaic
- Challenges existing scholarship by raising art historical, historical and theoretical issues
- Studies the Mosaic's image in two different cultures and times
Reviews & endorsements
'This is a rich, subtle, well-researched, fair, and often convincing study … [It] is essential reading for any serious student of Greek art in general and the Alexander Mosaic in particular.' American Journal of Archaeology
Product details
April 2000Paperback
9780521775434
302 pages
254 × 178 × 19 mm
0.735kg
78 b/w illus. 14 colour illus.
Unavailable - out of print June 2006
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction and methodology
- 2. Battle images and battle narratives: the background
- 3. The question of the copy
- 4. The battle between Darius and Alexander: the first level of existence
- 5. The narrative and the dramatic
- 6. The narrative and the descriptive
- 7. The mosaic in Roman context: the second level of existence
- Epilogue.
