STEVEN ZUCKER: In baseball,
in soccer, sometimes sports announcers will look for
the turning point of the game. And the scene that we're looking
at-- a battle, not sport-- in fact, one of the
most important battles in ancient history-- is at
that particular turning point, the moment when the
great ruler of Persia turns and flees
under the onslaught of the great Greek
general Alexander. BETH HARRIS: Darius, the
king of the Persians, has just ordered his
troops to retreat. STEVEN ZUCKER: So there's
tremendous tension at this moment because we have
this reversal of momentum. We can feel, still,
the momentum that is moving in from the
right because we can still see the Persian guards' spears
facing towards the Greeks. But just at that moment,
one of the largest objects in this mosaic, the chariot,
is being spun around. And the tension and the torsion
that's required for that is creating this tremendous
sense of dynamism. BETH HARRIS: On the ground, we
see the wounded and the dying. STEVEN ZUCKER: One of
my favorite details is the reflection of one
of the Persian soldiers in his own shield. BETH HARRIS: He's looking
at himself fallen in battle, perhaps about to die. I think my favorite
part is the horse that's part of the team leading
Darius's chariot. Almost all four hoofs
are off the ground. As it's being pulled
toward the left, its head turns to the right. STEVEN ZUCKER: There is
this almost frenetic quality to this image. BETH HARRIS: And you have
a sense of confidence when you look at Alexander's
face as he heads toward Darius. Darius looks fearful as he
gestures toward Alexander. It looks to me as
though Darius is almost pleading for the
lives of his soldiers. STEVEN ZUCKER: Well, there is a
look both of surprise and worry and of seeking compassion. I think that that's
exactly right. Alexander is known ultimately
for his compassion, at least towards Darius's family. BETH HARRIS: And Alexander
is the great Greek general, the founder of an
enormous empire. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Well, that's right. He not only unifies
Greece, but he will then move south into Egypt. He moves east into
Persia, and he gets to the Indus Valley itself. So he puts under
Greece's control an enormous area
of the known world. And all of these
details are rendered in tiny pieces of
stone and glass. BETH HARRIS: So we're
looking at a mosaic that we think is based on
an ancient Greek painting. We hope it's based on an
ancient Greek painting because almost nothing
of ancient Greek painting survives. And Pliny talked about how
amazing Greek painting was. STEVEN ZUCKER: Well, it's true. When we think of Greek art,
we think of Greek sculpture. We might think of
Greek architecture. Perhaps we think of
Greek vase painting. But you're absolutely right. In the ancient world,
literature tells us that what the Greeks
did better than anything was wall painting. We just don't have any. BETH HARRIS: So maybe
this gives us some idea. STEVEN ZUCKER: But I do
find it really interesting that the mosaic is
almost empty at the top and is so much weighted
down towards the bottom. Especially when we
remember that this was based on a painting that
would have been on a wall. And so this was intended
to be seen vertically, at least initially. At least, that's our best guess. BETH HARRIS: Art
historians link this mosaic to a literary description
of an ancient Greek painting by an artist named Philoxenos. And in this literary
source by Pliny, Philoxenos is said
to have created a painting of the Battle
of Alexander and Darius. STEVEN ZUCKER: But
here's the problem. There were probably lots of
paintings of that subject. BETH HARRIS: And
we know for certain that there, for example,
was a woman artist who painted this subject in
ancient Greece, as well. STEVEN ZUCKER: This was
an incredibly important confrontation between
these two generals, between these two civilizations. I'm sure there were many more. BETH HARRIS: But
this is what we have, and this is what was found. And we have it because
of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in
'79, which preserved under a layer of volcanic
ash the city of Pompeii. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Including this mosaic. BETH HARRIS: This was found
on the floor between two peristyles, that is, between
two open courtyards that were surrounded by
columns in the largest and most elaborately
decorated mansion in Pompeii, often called the
House of the Faun after a bronze sculpture of
a faun that was found there. STEVEN ZUCKER: And
the mosaic itself is of extraordinary quality. And so it's not
surprising that we find it in such a lavish environment
as the House of the Faun. There are apparently a
million and a half pieces of stone and glass that
make up this mosaic. BETH HARRIS: And
the quality is not just in the fineness
of the materials, but in the incredible
naturalism of what we see here, which is what the ancient
Greeks were known for. We have forms that, even with
these tiny pieces of stone, we have a sense of modeling,
of the use of light and dark to create a sense of
three-dimensional forms. If we look at the horses or
the faces of the figures, we see the turn of the face,
the anatomy of the body. STEVEN ZUCKER: And look
at the foreshortening of the animals-- for
instance, of the horses. BETH HARRIS: That ancient Greek
knowledge of the human body, of how it moves through
space, is so clear here. STEVEN ZUCKER: And of
course, all of this speaks to the Romans'
regard for the achievement of ancient Greek art. BETH HARRIS: Sometimes it seems
as though everyone in Pompeii wanted to imitate
the ancient Greeks, to own copies of ancient
Greek sculptures, ancient Greek paintings. There was a real mania,
as in Rome itself, for ancient Greek culture.