The Hellenistic world created a new conception of royal power based on a “theology of Victory”: succeeding in war affirmed the deities’ favor, but the moment of victory, ephemeral and short-lived, had to be prolonged into something long-lasting – perpetual, even “eternal.” Military victory is our starting point and, in this regard, the famous battle of Alexander and Darius is an iconic representation of royal Hellenistic power (Fig. 5.1).

The mosaic illustrating the battle of Alexander comes from the House of the Faun at Pompeii whose structure, as is well known, imitates Hellenistic palaces (Fig. 5.2), an impression that visitors experienced when entering the house and looking at the long perspective of rooms: atria, peristilia, triclinia, fl oors decorated with mosaics, and painted walls. The entire house, completed at the end of the second century BC, displays an Asiatica luxuria in its plan and decoration. The famous exedra, containing the mosaic of Alexander, was the final destination of a spectacular path available to high-ranking visitors, which started from the main entrance (Fig. 5.3). Here the mosaic, displaying theatrical masks together with fruits and tendrils, marks the passage to the space of Dionysos, where visitors became followers of the divinity.

The little bronze statue – the eponymous Faun but, in reality, a satyr – welcomes the visitor to the Tuscan atrium and draws attention to the focal point of the tablinum beyond. The rooms around the atrium display fl oors decorated with mosaics: to the right of the entrance is an erotic scene including a satyr and a maenad on the fl oor of the cubiculum, while a cat steals costly food, including birds, ducks, fish, and seafood, in the ala; and on the other side of the entrance, two doves steal jewelry from a box in the ala. The fl oor of the left triclinium beyond the atrium is decorated with a mosaic illustrating the sea crowded with fish and crustaceans, including an octopus, a lobster, and a moray eel. In the right triclinium a young, winged Dionysos rides a tiger: the child holds a vase containing wine whose drops draw the attention of the animal.

The setting of the Tuscan atrium and the scenes displayed by the mosaics represent an “art of the senses” in which the Dionysiac tryphé joins Aphrodite's world; they form a spectacle organized by the dominus for clientes and amici.