HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sosus of Pergamon was a Greek
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
artist of the second century BC. He is the only mosaic artist whose name was recorded in literature. After the conquests of
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
, the Greeks of major centers such as
Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...
and
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
displayed their wealth in decorations that included mosaics.


Works

The two famous works of Sosus include:


The Unswept Floor

This depicts the floor of a room covered with the remains of a feast, including fish, fruit and other fragments of food.


Doves Drinking from a Bowl

A mosaic from Hadrian's Villa, now in the
Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums ( Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pal ...
, depicts a group of doves on a round bowl. As described by Pliny, one dove is drinking while the others are sunning themselves. ''The Doves of Pliny'', or the ''Capitoline Doves'' depicts the doves artistically but realistically. The mosaic is made only of cubes of colored marble, without any colored glass as in other mosaics. It was discovered in 1737 during excavations at Hadrian's Villa led by Cardinal Giuseppe Alessandro Furietti, who thought it was the mosaic that Pliny had described, although other scholars think it is a copy of the original that was made for Hadrian. The Hadrian's villa mosaic has in turn been copied many times in many formats.


References

Citations Sources * * * * {{Authority control Mosaic artists Ancient Greek artists 2nd-century BC Greek people People from Pergamon