There is news of some new mosaics uncovered in Zeugma that are dated to about 200BC. That puts us firmly in the Hellenistic period.
credit: Ankara University
This is very interesting to me because it's "only" 250 years after the time of Nico & Diotima. Of course, a lot can change in 250 years -- think how much art has changed between 1750 and today -- but also think how much the art of 1750 is still recognizably ours.
Practically zero paintings survive from the Classical and Hellenistic world. There are lots of statues, but that's a different thing. These mosaics are probably close to what you'd see in a painted mural.
So in Zeugma there is art that is plainly in the Hellenistic tradition. What's more, we can see how style has changed, because there are earlier known mosaics. Remember I wrote some time ago about the mosaic in the tomb at Amphipolis?
This mosaic is at least 100 years before the Zeugma one above. Zeugma is on the Euphrates river, miles from Greece. Amphipolis is in northern Greece (or Macedonia, depending how you think of it).
They're clearly different artists, but they belong to the same stylistic tradition. That's possible because Zeugma was founded by a Macedonian guy called Seleukus, who was one of Alexander's Generals. Seleukus was one of the big winners in the fallout after Alexander's death.
While most of Alexander's successors met untimely and usually pretty gruesome ends, Seleukus survived to found the Seleucid Empire, which was very, very successful. It was largely because of the Seleucid Empire that Greek culture kept its position so far across the Middle East.
It's been known for a long time, by the way, that Zeugma has some astounding art. Up to now the most famous piece has been the Gypsy Girl (not really a gypsy, of course; that's just a name).
This girl is us! If you met her in the street, you wouldn't blink.
There's a pretty good chance that I'll eventually steal the Zeugma art to describe in a book, when Nico & Diotima visit the home of a wealthy client, or maybe a dodgy but rich suspect.