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

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.