Sosus of Pergamon
ancient Greek artist
Sosus of Pergamon (Ancient Greek: Σῶσος) was a Greek mosaic artist of the second century BC. He is the only mosaic artist whose name was recorded in literature. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Greeks of major centers such as Pergamon and Alexandria displayed their wealth in decorations that included mosaics.
Works
The two famous works of Sosus include:
The Unswept House
Asarotos oikos, The Unswept House (Ancient Greek: ἀσάρωτος οἶκος) depicts the floor of a room covered with the remains of a feast, including fish, fruit and other fragments of food.
Doves Drinking from a Bowl
Source:
A mosaic from Hadrian's Villa, now in the Capitoline Museums, depicts a group of doves on a round bowl.
As described by Pliny, one dove is drinking while the others are sunning themselves.
The Doves of Pliny, or the Capitoline Doves depicts the doves artistically but realistically.
The mosaic is made only of cubes of colored marble, without any colored glass as in other mosaics.
It was discovered in 1737 during excavations at Hadrian's Villa led by Cardinal Giuseppe Alessandro Furietti, who thought it was the mosaic that Pliny had described, although other scholars think it is a copy of the original that was made for Hadrian.
The Hadrian's villa mosaic has in turn been copied many times in many formats.
The public source identifies “Sosus of Pergamon” as ancient Greek artist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sosus, Pergamon and ancient.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q116658. VIAF identifies the subject as 96134303. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1737.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sosus of Pergamon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.