Philoxenos (lived 3rd century BC)

The famous ‘Alexander mosaic’ at Pompeii, Italy, dating from the early 1st century BC and depicting the Battle of Issus between Alexander the Great and the Persian King Darius III. Its historical subject and its pictorial quality suggest not only a strong Hellenic influence, but also that it was copied from a painting executed by Philoxenos in about 300 BC, which was well known in the ancient world but has since been lost.

Greek painter of the period of Alexander the Great. He worked very rapidly. His best-known painting was a depiction (now lost) of the Battle of Issus, in which Alexander defeated Darius.

The Battle of Issus was commissioned by Cassander, King of Macedon, and a mosaic copy, found in Pompeii, conveys the artist's skill in handling a complex composition with a wealth of vigorous detail and a great feeling for action. The soldiers' lances are used with a strong sense of design.