The House of the Faun (Italian: Casa del Fauno), constructed in the 2nd century BCE during the Samnite period (180 BCE), was a grand Hellenistic residence that was framed by peristyle in Pompeii, Italy. The historical significance in this impressive estate is found in the many great pieces of art that were well preserved from the ash of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. It is one of the most luxurious aristocratic houses from the Roman Republic, and reflects this period better than most archaeological evidence found even in Rome itself.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 House of the Faun in the context of Alexander Mosaic
The Alexander Mosaic, also known as the Battle of Issus Mosaic, is a Roman floor mosaic originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, Italy.
It is typically dated between c. 120 and 100 BC and depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. This work of art is a combination of different artistic traditions such as Italic, Hellenistic, and Roman. The mosaic is considered Roman based on the broader context of its time and location in relation to the later Roman Republic. The original is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. The mosaic is believed to be a copy of a late 4th or early 3rd-century BC Hellenistic painting, perhaps by Philoxenus of Eretria or Apelles.
In this Dossier
House of the Faun in the context of Hetairoi
The Companions (Greek: ἑταῖροι, Greek: [heˈtairoi̯], hetairoi) were the elite heavy cavalry of the Macedonian army from the time of King Philip II of Macedon, achieving their greatest prestige under Alexander the Great, and regarded as the first or among the first shock cavalry used in Europe. Chosen Companions, or Hetairoi, formed the elite guard of the king (Somatophylakes).
House of the Faun in the context of Philoxenus of Eretria
Philoxenus of Eretria (Ancient Greek: Φιλόξενος ὁ Ἐρετριεύς) was a painter from Eretria. He was a disciple of Nicomachus of Thebes, whose speed in painting he imitated and even surpassed, having discovered new and rapid methods of coloring. According to Pliny, a picture of his was inferior to none, in particular his depiction of a battle between Alexander the Great and Darius III, which he painted for King Cassander.
A similar subject is represented in the celebrated Alexander Mosaic found in the House of the Faun in Pompeii. As a disciple of Nicomachus, who flourished about 360 BC, and as the painter of the battle of Issus (333 BC) (or possibly the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC; Pliny simply states that it was "a picture representing one of the battles between Alexander and Darius"), Philoxenus must have flourished in the age of Alexander, from about 330 BC and onwards. The words of Pliny, "Cassandro regi", "Cassander being king", if taken literally, would mean that the creation of the original picture must have taken place some time after 317-315 BC, during the reign of Cassander in Macedon.