material culture exercise two
How is the composition arranged? Who goes where and who is doing what? Can you tell which figure is Alex the Great, and which one is Darius? How does the artist convey who is the victor in this struggle and who is the defeated party?
Now focus in on the faces of Alex and Darius in the slideshow above. What message does the artist send about leadership and retreat in the facial expressions of these two kings? Note that Alex the Great has a lock of hair that stands straight up from his forehead. This is an "iconographical signifier" that identifies him as the conqueror of the known world at the time, and all images of him contain this marker. It is known as an “anastole”.
Consider the audience of this mosaic. It was found in one of the rich Pompeian villas and would have been viewed by the owners and their guests. What kind of response in the audience would this image provoke?
In addition, Alexander had been dead for almost 300 years by the time Pompeii was buried. Why would the Romans not have pictured their own leaders instead?