( fl late 4th century BC). Greek painter. He was the pupil of NIKOMACHOS OF THEBES and imitated the quickness of his master’s technique, inventing other ways of his own in which to increase the speed of painting. The nature of these advances is unknown, and none of his work survives. He painted a picture of Three Silenoi Revelling, but his most famous picture was a Battle between Alexander the Great and Darius III, painted for King Kassander of Macedon (reg 305/4–297 BC), although the painting may have been commissioned before Kassander assumed the throne as he was the most powerful figure in Macedonia from 319 BC. The battle depicted was either that at Issos (333 BC) or that at Gaugamela (331 BC), and the picture was perhaps the model for the Alexander Mosaic, although the connection cannot be proved (see POMPEII, §V).

• Philoxenos of Eretria
  • attributions
    • Vergina
  • copies
    • Mosaic, §II, 1(ii): Historical survey: Ancient Rome
    • Pompeii, §V: Mosaics
  • patrons and collectors
    • Greece, ancient, §VI, 2(iii): Wall and panel painting: Hellenistic
  • teachers
    • Greece, ancient, §VI, 1(iii): Wall and panel painting: Painters and society
  • works
    • Greece, ancient, §VI, 2(ii)(b): Wall and panel painting: Classical, 4th century BC