Nineveh Province

Above Portrait of Alexander on the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun at Pompeii. The youthful, clean cut features, the brushed back wavy hair, the large eyes, fleshy lips, and bridgeless nose were characteristic of all later portraits of the Macedonian king, who became a role model for later Hellenistic and Roman rulers.

Alexander the Great

Graham Goodlad surveys the remarkable career of ancient history’s most successful warlord.

BELOW The famous Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. It depicts the encounter between Alexander (on the left) and Darius (on the right) on the battlefield of either Issus or Gaugamela. Like virtually all our source material for Alexander, it is mythologising propaganda that offers no real clues as to what actually happened.

The Battle of Gaugamela, 1 October 331 BC

Neil Faulkner analyses one of history’s greatest tactical triumphs.