10The Alexander Mosaic, Pompeii, Italy

One of the most famous mosaics in antiquity, The Alexander Mosaic was found at the House of the Faun in Pompeii and dates to 100 BC. There’s a catch – this is a Roman copy (by Aristides of Thebes) of a lost Hellenistic Greek original.

The scene depicts the Macedonian-Greek leader Alexander the Great charging across the battlefield on horseback while the Achaemenid Persian leader Darius III looks back as his chariot whisks him away. Believed to show the Battle of Issus of 333 BC, visitors today can see it on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

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