An iconic Alexander the Great mosaic found at Pompeii got its roughly 2 million pieces from quarries that extended far beyond Alexander's ancient kingdom, a new study finds.
While Alexander's empire stretched from the Balkans to modern-day Pakistan, these bits of stone and mineral, or tesserae, came from quarries across Europe — including in Italy and the Iberian Peninsula — as well as from Tunisia, according to the study, which was published Wednesday (Jan. 15) in the journal PLOS One.
