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76 The theme of King David as Orpheus clearly belongs to the existing iconographic affinities of a mythological pagan Orpheus figure with attributes of a musician and animal charmer, which was combined with the biblical image of David (1 Samuel 16: 23) as royal musician, poet, psalmist, and charmer of humans and animals with music (Hachlili 1988: 298). Gaza was an ancient Hellenistic town with a Hellenistic-Byzantine tradition; this may have influenced the Jewish community to choose for their synagogue pavement a biblical figure represented in its original pagan mythological image. The David-Orpheus motif was probably appropriated by Jewish iconography from the pagan world while retaining its original meaning of the charming of beasts by music, and combining it with David’s royal image. David in this composition, as the biblical psalmist king, is represented similarly as Orpheus playing the cithara before wild beasts. Two mosaic pavements portraying Orpheus were discovered in Israel: the Late Roman mosaic at Sepphoris and the Byzantine mosaic of Orpheus in Jerusalem. The Orpheus Mosaic Pavement at Sepphoris The Orpheus mosaic pavement was found in the triclinium of a private house, adjacent to the cardo in the lower city of Sepphoris, dated to the second half of the 3rd century CE (Talgam and Weiss 2004: 8-10). The excavators suggest (Talgam and Weiss 2004: 9, with no verification) that the Sepphoris dwelling may have belonged to a Hellenized Jew rather than a pagan resident. The upper panel of the T-shaped mosaic in the triclinium depicts Orpheus surrounded by birds and animals; Orpheus is seated on a rock under a tree, wearing a Phrygian cap, an ornamented short Oriental tunic and trousers, the Persian anaxirides, a red chlamys, and low boots (apparently belonging to the Phrygian Orpheus type: Jesnick 1997: 72). He holds an especially large seven- stringed cithara to his left (pl. IV-4). About twenty animals are portrayed listening to and charmed by Orpheus and his music; the birds are rendered in the upper part of the panel, the animals in the lower part. Among the depicted birds are an eagle, a peacock, and a goose; the animals include a lion, a wild boar, a tiger, a rabbit, a bull and a snake coiled around a tree which is frequently part of the Orpheus scene; the snakein-tree motif appears on other Orpheus mosaics at Chabba, Carnuntum, Ptolemais, Seleucia, chapter four Tobruk, and Trento (Jesnick 1997: 81, fig. 21). A later wall built on it destroyed the lowermost part of the scene. The composition is similar in character to some 3rd-4th-century Orpheus mosaics. It consists of a unified rectangular panel, which depicts the figure of Orpheus in the centre, with the birds and the animals circling him in a conventional division: the birds are on the upper section and the animals on the lower. This design appears on other Orpheus mosaics, such as the Orpheus mosaic pavements at Adana, Chahba, Cos I, Lepcis Magna I, North Syria (now at the Kestner Museum, Hannover), Paphos, and Saragossa (Jesnick 1997: figs. 112, 113,122, 131, 133, 141). The animals, portrayed at Sepphoris without regard to scale and hanging in midair to form a circle around Orpheus, are rendered attentively listening to the musician. Their faces and bodies are turned up towards him, in a way quite similar to other ‘mannerist’ features on Orpheus mosaics (Jesnick 1994; 1997: 62-64). The Jerusalem Orpheus The Orpheus mosaic pavement in Jerusalem (now at the Istanbul Archeological Museum, no. 1642) was found in 1901 in a courtyard of a Jewish house north-west of Damascus Gate (Vincent 1901, 1902; Avi-Yonah 1932: 172-3, no. 133, pls. 50-51; Bagatti 1952; Ovadiah and Mucznik 1981; Jesnick 1997: 16, no.73, fig. 117 and bibliography there). The building consisted of a hall and two rooms, with a small apse decorated with a mosaic containing a cross at the centre; it probably served as a funerary chapel. The Orpheus mosaic decorates a large part of the hall’s upper register (fig. IV-14); it is dated to the 6th century. The oversized frontal Orpheus in the centre of the panel is a young seated figure (without a seat), presented frontally looking out with large eyes (pl. IV-5a). In his left hand Orpheus holds a multi-stringed cithara set on his left knee, which he strums with his right hand; he wears an embroidered chiton and a chlamys fastened with a fibula, and a Phrygian cap, and has sandals on his feet (Jesnick 1997: 68-71, figs. on pp. 183-189; the Jerusalem Orpheus belongs to the Thracian Orpheus type). Orpheus is surrounded by several animals: a viper circles his head, confronting a mongoose, to the right, with a leash tied around its neck; on Orpheus’s left a lamb and a bear look backwards,
iblical narrative themes and images: representation, origin, and meaning 77 Figure IV-14. The Orpheus mosaic pavement from Jerusalem.
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294 glossary
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Ψ ή φ ο ς ס פ י ס פ Ancie
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contents To my beloved granddaughte
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contents CONTENTS List of Color Pla
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contents C Pastoral and Rural Scene
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list of color plates xi LIST OF COL
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list of color plates xiii V.4 Nilom
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list of color plates xv Mt. Nebo; g
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list of color plates xvii Authority
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list of figures xix LIST OF FIGURES
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list of figures xxi Figure IV-15. D
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list of figures xxiii Figure VIII-5
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list of figures xxv LIST OF TABLES
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foreword xxvii FOREWORD התדיב
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One of the most significant and fru
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pavement at Caesarea the word is sp
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mosaic pavements adorning buildings
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Introduction: Jewish Figurative Art
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Figure II-3. Beth "Alpha synagogue:
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to the Sefer HaRazim Yahoweh reside
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ut all served as repositories for t
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Page 57 and 58: open ark with scrolls is depicted,
Page 59 and 60: are rendered in non-identical symme
Page 61 and 62: pavements of Samarian synagogues an
Page 63 and 64: of two columns surmounting an arche
Page 65 and 66: A group of ancient synagogues disco
Page 67 and 68: the zodiac panel and its significan
Page 75 and 76: the bust of the season Nisan (Sprin
Page 77 and 78: The Summer attributes, the sickle a
Page 79 and 80: Table III-1. Comparative chart of t
Page 81 and 82: Figure III-12. Part of a stone ceil
Page 83 and 84: A Roman villa at Odos Triakosion in
Page 85 and 86: the four seasons, representing the
Page 87 and 88: iblical narrative themes and images
Page 95 and 96: Noah’s Ark biblical narrative the
Page 105: iblical narrative themes and images
Page 121 and 122: Jonah biblical narrative themes and
Page 127 and 128: Nilotic scenes are a recurrent them
Page 129 and 130: iconographic elements of nilotic sc
Page 131 and 132: I.1 Masada mosaic pavements: a. ant
Page 133 and 134: I.3 Jerusalem, Upper City, pavement
Page 135 and 136: II.1 Torah shrine panels on synagog
Page 137 and 138: II.3 Comparable shrines on Jordan m
Page 139 and 140: III.1 Hammath Tiberias synagogue zo
Page 141 and 142: III.3 Beth "Alpha synagogue zodiac
Page 143 and 144: III.5 Sun God on synagogue pavement
Page 145 and 146: III.7 Zodiac signs on synagogue pav
Page 147 and 148: III.9 Zodiac signs on synagogue pav
Page 149 and 150: III.11 The four seasons on synagogu
Page 151 and 152: IV.1 Binding of Isaac on synagogue
Page 153 and 154: IV.3 David-Orpheus on the Gaza syna
Page 155 and 156: IV.5 The Orpheus mosaic, Jerusalem.
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IV.7 Sepphoris synagogue, The Conse
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V.1 Nilotic scene at Beth Leontis,
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V.3 Nilotic scene at Sepphoris Nile
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eagle. Another Nilotic scene appear
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shown standing on the river bank as
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The depiction of a putto riding a c
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Table V.1. Nilotic Elements on Byza
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Nile Festival mosaic, with the addi
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The ‘inhabited scroll’ became o
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donkey. Lively animal chase scenes
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naturalistic in execution, and unli
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which contains objects flanked by s
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Figure VI-7. Group II: Jerusalem, t
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the outer ones; the second survivin
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Table VI-1a. Composition and Repert
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Group III consists of the mosaics e
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the ‘inhabited scrolls’ mosaic
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Figure VI-13. Beth She"an, Monaster
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Figure VI-15. Sede Nahum mosaic fra
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Table VI-2a. (Cont.) Mosaic Date ce
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Table VI-2b. (Cont.) Mosaic Date ce
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In the south aisle of St. George ch
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four amphorae in the centre of the
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On Jordanian mosaics, in the acanth
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to have grapes of both styles (pl.
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ightly observes that the different
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grape harvesting, pastoral, and hun
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Rural activities and pastoral scene
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Table VII.1. Vintage scenes on vine
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Figures Treading Grapes and the Pre
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The forerunners for these vintage s
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Snake and Mongoose Confrontation Th
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Table VII.2. Animal chase and comba
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iconographic aspects of rural life
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scenes are found in the mid-5th- to
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Table VII.3. Big Game Hunting scene
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likewise surround the basin of the
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the cathedral at Madaba (Piccirillo
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443, 455-6, 466) holds that this ty
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Personification is a common theme o
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Rivers of Paradise, but only two of
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irds, apparently created by the Fou
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in an intercolumnar space (Church o
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the seasons with deliberate differe
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personification of natural forces 1
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crook Spring’s attribute at the B
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personification of natural forces 1
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while in mosaics of the Greek East
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Moon, as the partner of Sun, is a b
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Animals in a repeated antithetic sy
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designs of symmetrical antithetic a
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(Ovadiah 1987: 105) and at the Naha
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a bear, a lion and a destroyed anim
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long-horned deer drinking from a sp
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iconoclasm on mosaic pavements of s
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A significant subject in ancient ar
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These compositions with division in
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frequent ornamentation of the synag
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(Ovadiah 1987: 68): A cross within
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Some scholars propose that depictio
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V.5 City representations: a. Beth L
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V.7 The sail boat: a. Beth Leontis,
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VI.1 Gaza synagogue pavement.
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VI.3 Jerusalem ‘Armenian’ churc
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VI.6-8 Petra Church: North Aisle mo
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VI.8
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VI.10 The church of the Deacon Thom
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VI.12 Amphorae depicted on inhabite
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VI.14 Bird of prey on inhabited vin
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VI.16 Baskets on inhabited vine scr
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VI.18 Vine leaves and bunches of gr
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VI.20 Subdued animals: a. Be’er S
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VII.2 Transporting grapes: a. El Ha
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VII.4 Flute player: a. Beth She’a
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VII.6 Snake and mongoose confrontat
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VII.8 Dog chasing hare/rabbit on ch
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Inhabited Vine Scrolls Pavements A
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similar in the general depiction of
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etween synagogue and church 233 Fig
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part are evidently connected: almos
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etween synagogue and church 237 Fig
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Mukhayyat (Bagatti 1949: 99, pl. 29
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time. They might have contained gen
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Artists, workshops and schools of m
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• The same artisans are mentioned
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1933: 146, No. 23, 8; 1934: 73 =198
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characteristically mixed origin of
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The Sepphoris Mosaicists The Seppho
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on horseback spearing a leopard wit
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Odysseus fighting the monster Scyll
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Figure XII-6. Hall A mosaic, Monast
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mosaicists, workshops, and the repe
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Dating The Monastery was dated by i
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connections with Egypt, and perhaps
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different themes based on comparabl
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esults were mosaics in the old Diak
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Jews toartists and craftsmen. Among
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epeated use was supplemented by fre
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of designs from general pattern boo
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concluding remarks, comments, and o
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list of sites 289 LIST OF SITES Sit
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Site Date Centuries CE Jordan (Arab
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VII.10 Jabaliyah Diakonikon mosaic
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VII.12 Hunter/soldier on foot with
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VII.14 Feline with cub: a. Gaza syn
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VII.16 Shepherd: a. Be’er Shem‘
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VII.18 Figure leading camel: a. Kis
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VII.20 Fishing: a. Beth Loya, two e
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VIII.2 Seasons: a. Caesarea: Spring
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VIII.4 Beth She’an monastery, Hal
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IX.2 Flanking birds: a. Beth Shean,
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IX.4 a. Huseifa, unidentical menoro
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X.2 Susiya synagogue: a. panel Tora
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X.4 Jabaliyah church, north aisle.
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XI.2 Crosses on mosaic pavements: a
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XI.4 Tabgha, Church of the Multipli
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XII.2
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XII.4 Beth Leontis, Beth She’an:
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XII.6 Similarities between animals:
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XII.8 Similarities between animals
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glossary 293 GLOSSARY Aedicula Ston
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list of sites 295 ABBREVIATIONS ACR
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Abel, F. M. 1924 Décourvertes réc
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1969 Antike Mosaiken in Kilikien, I
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2001 The Nilometer, in Measuting an
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The Art of Byzantium and the Mediev
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1995 The Activity of the Mosaicists
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1971 The Secret of the ‘En Gedi I
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