Depicting the Equine Emotional State: Comparative analysis of the behaviour and attitudes of horses in the Alexander mosaic

In the Alexander mosaic of the House of the Faun in Pompeii, the relationship between horses and humans is perfectly illustrated. The artists have reproduced in detail the poses of the body, the attitudes and the expressions of the muzzle of these animals. Observing the mosaic images, we note that the emotional states of the horses are, together with Alexander, the main characters of the scene. In this poster, therefore, we would like to observe the emotional states of horses in Alexander's mosaic by comparing the images with research in veterinary medicine that analyses the ethology of these animals in situations of excitement, stress, anxiety and fear.