Alexander the Great changed the face of the ancient world. During his life and after his death, his image in works of art exerted an unprecedented influence–on marbles, bronzes, ivories, frescoes, mosaics, coins, medals, even painted pottery and reliefware. Alexander's physiognomy became the most famous in history. But can we really know what meaning lies behind these images?

Andrew Stewart demonstrates that these portraits—wildly divergent in character, quality, type, provenance, date, and purpose—actually transmit not so much a likeness of Alexander as a set of carefully crafted clichés that mobilize the notion "Alexander" for diverse ends and diverse audiences. Stewart discusses the portraits as studies in power and his original interpretation of them gives unprecedented fullness and shape to the idea and image called "Alexander."

Andrew Stewart is Professor of Greek and Roman Art at the University of California at Berkeley. His most recent book is Greek Sculpture: An Exploration (1990).

“A beautifully presented volume. . . . Stewart’s catalogue of Alexandrine iconography is virtually exhaustive, his exegesis balanced and cogent, and his eruditions vast, making this book a classic of Alexander-scholarship.”—Classical Review

"The subject matter and Stewart's new insights into it, not to mention his detailed descriptions of the Alexander portraits on the various media from that king's own time to the Roman, make this book a must for art historians and also for historians of Alexander and the hellenistic period and even of Rome. . . . Stewart has done a service not only to the study of Alexander iconography but also to Alexandrian scholarship as a whole: his book is an indispensable research tool for Alexander and hellenistic studies. Moreover, his lively and clear style makes it enjoyable reading."—The Classical Journal

"The prolific Andrew Stewart's Faces of Power is a substantial addition to the 'Hellenistic Culture and Society' series. It is hard to think of anyone better qualified than Stewart to provide us with this much-needed review of Alexander-imagery."—Greece and Rome Review

"Substantially more than a study of the portraiture of Alexander the Great. Incorporating extensive historical, literary, and epigraphical testimonia, as well as a vast amount of relevant, and recent, historical and art historical scholarship. Stewart discusses the graven, cast, and painted images of the dynamic young conqueror as concrete manifestations of the unprecedented authority he achieved, and the first representations of a new 'technology of power' utilized, then copied, by his successors, later imitated by Augustus."—American Journal of Archaeology

"Stewart has not only put the study of Alexander imagery on a new and solid footing, he has produced an important model for the intellectually integrative approach to the study of classical art which is itself the most significant contribution of current scholarly enterprise."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Stewart's book aims to show how the 'most influential face in history' was portrayed as a political icon, both during Alexander's short life and in the tempestuous Hellenistic age that followed his death in 323 A.D. . . . From Stewart's unique blend of material and literary evidence, the reader gains a fuller and more rounded impression of the subject than be found in any one account of archaeology or biography alone. . . . Stewart exhibits an alchemist's desire to conjure up from this amalgam a real living, breathing, drinking, fighting, sweating, Alexander. If his efforts are not ultimately rewarded, there is every merit in the attempt."—Burlington Magazine

"There is no more evocative Greek portrait type than that of Alexander the Great. By exploring its potency and development in antiquity . . . Stewart has made an impressive demonstration of the value of this broader approach to a traditional art-historical subject."—Sir John Boardman, Ashmolean Museum