Welcome to Spearpoint’s Episode 6 art gallery! Ideally, you’ll read this blog post and view its images while you listen, or after you have listened, to Episode 6. To that end, the images are given in the order in which Malcolm and Frances discuss them. However, we wouldn’t want the blog post to make no sense at all if you haven’t heard the podcast, so, brief explanations of each image have been provided. We hope you find them useful! If you have anything you would like to add, please feel free to do so in the comments.

Before beginning, we should let you know the following:
(1). Episode 6 covers images created between Alexander’s own lifetime and the end of the nineteenth century. In Episode 7 we will be looking at images created in the twentieth and twenty-first century
(2). When it comes to ancient busts/statues of Alexander, we only know for sure that they depict Alexander himself when he is named on them. Of the three busts of him included below, only the Azara Herm includes Alexander’s name. The others are believed to be him on the basis of their appearance. You can learn more about Alexander’s iconography in the description of the British Museum bust at No.2
(3). Finally, if you would like to see more images of Alexander, you can do so on our Pinterest page @spearpointATG. We have a number of boards, including two dedicated to Episode 6 and 7. As for the blog, do check back as we will have another blog post art gallery dedicated to the images discussed in Episode 7

With that said, let’s take a look at these images of Alexander!

One
First up is the Azara Herm, which is held by the Louvre in Paris. The Herm is believed to be a Roman copy of a bust by Lysippus, one of the few artists that Alexander allowed to portray him. For this reason, it is thought to represent what the Macedonian king really looked like. While the Azara Herm is undoubtedly the most famous example of a realistic portrayal of Alexander, it also contains elements of what you might call Alexander’s ‘idealistic iconography’ – the wavy, leonine hair, smooth skin and parted lips. Where it differs is in the determined eyes looking straight forward, focusing on the here-and-now rather than future.

Two
The British Museum bust of Alexander (dated to the 2nd-3rd Century BC) is one of the most famous idealistic images of the conqueror. We call it an idealistic image on account of the following:
– The leonine hair which recalls Alexander’s ancestor, Herakles
– The smooth/clean shaven skin. In ancient Macedonia and Greece men almost always had beards. Alexander’s decision to shave was a radical departure from this norm
– The dreamy eyes looking to the future, dreaming of future conquest and glory (see also 10 below)
– The slightly parted full lips about to give an order? Or maybe speak softly to someone, maybe even kiss. Alexander is a warrior but the lips tell us he is much more than just that
– The tilted neck. This gives a sense of motion, of Alexander having an interest in what he is seeing before him
– The Anastole. Anastole is a Greek word meaning ‘extreme cow lick’. You see it in busts when the front of the centre parting is lifted up, as if a cow had just licked the person’s face. It doesn’t feature on the British Museum bust but can be found on other idealistic images of Alexander (see also 7 below)

The bust was found in Alexandria so surely comes from the home of an extremely well-off person. It may even come from the royal palace of the Ptolemies. By the by, this bust probably reflects the popular (as opposed to academic) view of Alexander today: an out-and-out hero

Three
When Manolis Andronikos discovered the Vergina Tombs in 1977, he interpreted the ivory heads that you see below as being Alexander and Philip II. This is because they resembled other images of the conqueror and his father. For example, Alexander has a slightly tilted neck, clean shaven skin, and dreamy eyes. However, if it is Alexander, that would mean that by no later than 338 BC, Alexander’s idealistic iconography had already taking root. Is this realistic?

As discussed by both Frances and Malcolm, Philip also has a neck tilt. Could this be evidence that Alexander’s was hereditary?

FOUR
As Frances says, this coin, a tetradrachm, was minted either by Alexander towards the end of his life or by one of his generals and Successors. As you can see, Alexander appears with his trademark leonine hair and wears the royal diadem. The most obvious and outstanding feature of the coin, however, is, of course, the ram’s horn. Alexander claimed to be the son of Zeus-Ammon who, in his Egyptian guise as the god Ammon (aka Amon, Amun), had a ram’s head. It’s appearance on a coin indicates that either Alexander or one of his Successors wanted him to be seen as a god.

The issue of Alexander’s divinity is a much debated one. If you would like to know more, check out Spearpoint Episode 4 where Malcolm and Frances discuss this very subject. Go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or listen to it on this blog!

FIVE
The Porus Medallion, below, is one of the most famous objects from Alexander’s own lifetime. On the obverse side we see a cavalryman attack two Indian soldiers on an elephant. On the reverse a single figure holds a long object while another person hovers over them. To take the obverse side first, it is believed that the cavalryman is Alexander, attacking Porus and the Indian king’s mahout as they flee from him. On the reverse side, the object being held by the figure is a lightning bolt. In ancient art, only Zeus ever holds a lightning bolt. The figure below, therefore, can only be the man who claimed to be King of the Gods’ son: Alexander. The figure hovering over him is Nike: the ancient Greek personification of Victory. We’ll meet her again in No. 11.

SIX
As mentioned by Malcolm, Oliver Stone used the Porus Medallion in his film Alexander (2004). Here is a still of that very scene. As you can see, Stone has adapted the image of the medallion rather than simply copied it: the Indian elephant faces Alexander, as do both Indian warriors atop it.

If you would like to watch the the whole battle, you can find it on YouTube. Part One is here, and Part Two here. But Beware: It is not for the faint hearted!

SEVEN
Below is a photo of Pompey Magnus with his Alexander inspired hair. At first glance it doesn’t look like he has made much of an effort at all to copy his hero. For whereas Alexander’s hair is long and wavy, Pompey’s is short and flat. But look at the upturned centre – that is Pompey’s very own anastole, his extreme cow lick!

EIGHT
Along with the British Museum bust of Alexander, the Alexander Mosaic is one of the most famous ancient images of Alexander that is still extant. The mosaic, which was found in The House of the Faun in Pompeii, is dated to the 1st-2nd century BC and is believed to be a copy of an ancient Greek painting. Note Alexander’s large eyes, which indicate his divinity, leonine hair and – perhaps a very Roman touch – his long sideburns

For reference, the full mosaic is as below. Given the amount of damage to it on the left hand side, we are very lucky to still be able to see the figure of Alexander as he prepares to attack the Great King, Darius III, who stands in his chariot with arm outstretched just right of centre.

NINE
This coronation of Alexander was created for a fifteenth century version of The Alexander Romance. The inclusion of the bishops and monk, and use of medieval clothing, point to the artist wanting to make the scene as relatable as possible to his audience. By having bishops crown Alexander, they are also, in a sense, christianising him. Alexander, of course, lived three hundred years before the birth of Christ. Despite this, he plays an important part in the spread of Christianity, through the establishment of the Greek language and Greek ideas across the Middle and Far East. Without Alexander, St. Paul et al would have found it much harder to make themselves understood outside Judaea.

TEN
The next two images also come from medieval copies of The Alexander Romance. In the first we see Alexander being lowered into the depths of the sea in a barrel; in the second, six griffins fly him into the sky. The two images share one theme: Alexander as an explorer. As it happens, the real Alexander never explored any unknown lands. Despite this, the idea of him being an explorer as well as conqueror took root in the Romance and in its pages he visits a variety of incredible places, including the end of the world and paradise. Arguably, the idea of Alexander the explorer didn’t start with the Romance but with his idealistic portrayal. Go back to the British Museum bust, above, and look for a moment at his eyes. They are not the eyes of a man who is focused on the here and now; but rather, are looking to new lands, new worlds, somewhere, out there… beyond the horizon.

ELEVEN
As he says in the podcast, The Triumph of Alexander by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) is one of Malcolm’s favourite portrayal of the Macedonian king. Epic in scope, it captures Alexander at the height of his power but also points to the loneliness of his position as conqueror. As with the Porus Medallion, Nike hovers overhead, but what price victory? Isolation? Was it worth it, then? The Triumph is a profoundly exciting and sad work of art.

TWELVE
We come to the end of our all too brief tour of images of Alexander with a favourite of Frances’s. Augustus at the Tomb of Alexander by Jean-Eugène Buland (1852-1926) is based on Suetonius’ account of Augustus Caesar’s visit to Alexander’s tomb in Alexandria following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC. Suetonius tells us in his Lives of the Caesars that Augustus placed a golden crown and flowers on Alexander’s sarcophagus. The new Roman emperor was asked if he would like to see the tombs of the Ptolemies as well, to which he replied, I came to see a king, not dead bodies. Buland has removed the sarcophagus so that we can draw almost as close to Alexander as Augustus. The new Roman leader, however, is portrayed with all the arrogance of his response above

So, there you are; we hope you enjoyed this whistle stop tour of images of Alexander through the centuries. As mentioned above, Episode 7 of the podcast will be bring the journey up-to-date with a look at images from the twentieth and twenty-first century. See you then!