Cleveland Museum of Art
Alexander the Great on Horseback
- Date
- 700s
- Medium
- dyed wool, undyed linen; plain weave and slit-tapestry weave
- Culture
- Egypt, Umayyad period (661–750) or Abbasid period (750–1258)
- Department
- Textiles
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Featuring imperial Byzantine themes, this rare roundel originally decorated a tunic. Genii (guardian spirits) crown the mounted horseman in military dress while an animal runs below. The inscription at the top identifies the horseman as Alexander the Great (356-323 bc), a popular cult figure in Egypt for centuries. The pattern’s mirror-image symmetry indicates the influence of costlier Byzantine silks.
The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.
Statuette of Alexander the Great
Getty Museum
The Crossing of the Granicus from The Story of Alexander the Great
Art Institute of Chicago
Coin Portraying Alexander the Great as the Hero Herakles
Art Institute of Chicago
Hunters on Horseback
Cleveland Museum of Art
Head of Alexander the Great
Cleveland Museum of Art
Engraved Gem with Alexander the Great inset Into a Hollow Ring
Getty Museum
Alexander the Great and the High Priest of Jerusalem
Cleveland Museum of Art
Tetradrachm (Coin) Portraying Alexander the Great
Art Institute of Chicago
Tetradrachm (Coin) Portraying Alexander the Great
Art Institute of Chicago
![Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander III [The Great] (obverse); Athena (reverse)](https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.994/1916.994_web.jpg)
Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander III [The Great] (obverse); Athena (reverse)
Cleveland Museum of Art
![Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander III [The Great] (obverse)](https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.994.a/1916.994.a_web.jpg)
Tetradrachm: Head of Alexander III [The Great] (obverse)
Cleveland Museum of Art
Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the Hero Herakles with the Features of Alexander the Great
Art Institute of Chicago