View source for Stag Hunt Mosaic

[[File:Deer hunt mosaic from Pella.jpg|thumb|The emblema of the Stag Hunt mosaic.]]
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| footer = The floor mosaic as it was discovered in [[Pella]]; the figure on the right is possibly [[Alexander the Great]] due to the date of the mosaic along with the depicted upsweep of his centrally-parted hair (''anastole''); the figure on the left wielding a double-edged axe (associated with [[Hephaistos]]) is perhaps [[Hephaestion]], one of Alexander's loyal companions.<ref>Chugg, Andrew (2006). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=S-cTfNjEhrcC&dq=Peritas+Pliny+Alexander&pg=PA78 Alexander's Lovers]''. Raleigh, N.C.: Lulu. {{ISBN|978-1-4116-9960-1}}, pp 78-79.</ref>
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The '''Stag Hunt mosaic''' ({{circa|300}} BC) is a [[mosaic]] from a wealthy home of the late 4th century BC, the so-called "House of the Abduction of [[Helen of Troy|Helen]]" (or "House of the Rape of Helen"), in [[Pella]], the capital of the [[Macedonian Kingdom]]. It bears the [[signature]] of the [[Ancient Greek art]]ist [[Gnosis (artist)|Gnosis]], of whom very little is known. It is now located in the [[Archaeological Museum of Pella]], [[Central Macedonia]], Greece.

==Composition==
The [[emblema (motif)|emblema]] is bordered by an intricate [[floral]] pattern, which itself is bordered by stylized depictions of [[water waves|waves]].<ref name="bare_url">[https://books.google.com/books?id=fT0QTO3uvWkC&dq=Gnosis++mosaicist&pg=PA135 Kleiner, Fred S., and Helen Gardner. Gardner's Art through the Ages. the Western Perspective. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. pg. 135]</ref>  The mosaic is a [[pebble mosaic]] with stones collected from beaches and riverbanks which were set into [[cement]].<ref name="bare_url" />  As was perhaps often the case,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/history/index.shtml|title=The history of mosaic art|access-date=2011-10-24|archive-date=2017-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015210313/http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/history/index.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> the mosaic does much to reflect styles of [[painting]].<ref name="Kleinerand">Kleiner and Gardner, pg. 136</ref> The light figures against a darker background may allude to [[red figure]] painting.<ref name="Kleinerand" />  The mosaic also uses [[shading]], known to the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] as [[Apollodorus (painter)|''skiagraphia'']], in its depictions of the musculature and cloaks of the figures.<ref name="Kleinerand" />  This along with its use of overlapping figures to create [[depth perception|depth]] renders the image [[Three-dimensional space|three dimensional]].

It is often wondered if Gnosis, whose signature ("Gnosis epoesen", i.e. Gnosis created) is the first known signature of a [[mosaicist]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=U7Uu_Dq8oY4C&dq=Mosaics%20of%20the%20Greek%20and%20Roman%20world&pg=PA14 Mosaics of the Greek and Roman world By Katherine M. D. Dunbabin pg. 14]</ref> could have been the painter of an earlier picture which the mosaic reproduces, rather than the mosaic-setter.  In the case of [[pottery]], 'epoesen' referred to a maker of the pot while 'egraphsen' was the [[verb]] used to designate the painter.<ref>Mertens, Joan R. . How to Read Greek Vases. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale UP, 2010. pg. 13</ref>  Therefore, if an analogy to pottery is warranted, it seems likely for Gnosis to have been a mosaicist.  Since ''gnosis'' ([[Greek (language)|Greek]]: γνῶσις) is also the Greek word for [[knowledge]], others have said the inscription does not refer to an author at all; but to an abstract noun.<ref>Cohen, Ada. Art in the Era of Alexander the Great: Paradigms of Manhood and Their Cultural Traditions. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. pg. 32</ref><ref>Paolo Moreno thinks it was intended to be read as "[[Apelles|Apelles's]] Knowledge Made It".</ref>

==The figures==

The figure on the right is possibly [[Alexander the Great]] due to the date of this mosaic along with the depicted upsweep of the hair.<ref name="bare_url_a">[https://books.google.com/books?id=S-cTfNjEhrcC&dq=Peritas%20Pliny%20Alexander&pg=PA78 Chugg, Andrew. Alexander's Lovers. Raleigh, N.C.: Lulu, 2006. pg. 78]</ref>  Pella is also the birthplace of Alexander.  The figure to the left wields a double-headed axe, likely alluding to [[Hephaistos]]; meaning the figure depicted could be the [[general]] [[Hephaestion]].<ref name="bare_url_a" />  The dog depicted is possibly [[Peritas]] accompanying Alexander.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=S-cTfNjEhrcC&dq=Peritas%20Pliny%20Alexander&pg=PA78 Chugg, Andrew. Alexander's Lovers. Raleigh, N.C.: Lulu, 2006. pg. 79]</ref> The stag and hound may allude to the myth wherein [[Artemis]] transforms the huntsman [[Actaeon]] into a stag when he tries to rape her. Once he is turned into a stag his own hounds turn on him and he is torn apart. The theme of abduction may relate the mosaic not only to the [[Helen of Troy#Youthful Abduction by Theseus|Rape of Helen by Theseus]], depicted in another mosaic in the same house, but also to Alexander's conquest of Persia. As Actaeon had hunted Artemis but was destroyed by his dogs, so the Persians had tried to subdue Hellas - an effort earlier Macedonian kings had participated in - resulting ultimately in the empire's destruction by Alexander.

==Deer in Greek mythology==

In [[Greek mythology]], the stag is associated with [[Artemis]] who was the virginal huntress. The myth goes when [[Actaeon]] saw Artemis naked, out of anger she turned him into a stag and he was torn to pieces by his own. In other accounts it is thought that [[Actaeon]] tried to rape Artemis. In this image we see the same concept of a stag being torn apart by a dog just as in the myth as well as by Alexander the Great on the right. It is speculated who is on the left. The theme here is the "hunter being hunted". It is a quite fitting mosaic for The House of The Abduction Of Helen, who was raped.
 
The stag also represents the Persians that Alexander would later conquer. He had stated his motives for battling the Persians as to get vengeance for them sacking Athens and destroying temples there such as the [[Parthenon]].<ref>Ros, Karen. “The Late Classical Period of Ancient Greece.” Lecture, Ancient Greek Art and Archaeology UIC, Chicago, Nov 2017.</ref> This would again represent the idea of the hunter being hunted.

==References==
{{Commons category|Stag hunt mosaic (Pella)}}
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek mosaics]]
[[Category:Deer in art]]
[[Category:Ancient Pella]]
[[Category:Dogs in art]]
[[Category:Alexander the Great in art]]