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part (Hachlili 1988: 294-295, fig. VIII. 34 and
fig. XI.11).
The damaged scene on the mosaic pavement is
Daniel in the Lions’ Den (fig. IV-16). The human
figures were destroyed by iconoclasts sometime
during the 6th century. Daniel himself is poorly
preserved with only his arms remaining in an
orans posture; he is flanked by a damaged pair
of lions, of which only the rump of each survived,
rendered in schematic and unidentical style (see
their tails’ different pose). Above Daniel’s left arm
is the identifying Hebrew inscription םולש [ל] אינד
‘Daniel shalom’, while between Daniel and next
to the lion’s legs are some donors’ inscriptions
(Naveh 1978: nos.61-64).
A similar theme may have been portrayed on
the mosaic pavement of the Susiya synagogue,
in the westernmost panel (Gutman et al. 1981:
126). However, it is almost completely destroyed,
and only a fragment of an animal tail and upper
part and the end of the word לא[ינד] [Dani]el is
preserved (pl. X.2c), so it is difficult to make a
positive identification.
Another depiction in a Jewish context appears
on a stone orthostat found at ‘En Samsam, probably
originating in the ‘En Nashut synagogue in the
Golan (Ma‘oz 1981: 112; Hachlili 1988: 321-322,
fig. IX. 24b, pl. 88; 1995: 185-187, 203, no. 37).
The stone may have been the base of the side-wall
of an aedicule (fig. IV-17a). Its front extremity
has the three-deminsional shape of a lion’s torso;
it has a head, a foreleg and a stylized mane. On
one side of the stone a carved scene depicts a
figure flanked by a lion on one side and a lioness
suckling her cub on the other. Two rather square
eagles flank the whole scene.
The central figure shown en-face holds up his
hands. The right hand holds the lion’s head; the
lion and lioness, with small heads and stylized
mane, stride in profile. The eagle heads turn
to the centre, wings spread; the right eagle eats
chapter four
Figure IV-16. Daniel in the lions’ den, mosaic pavement at Na#aran synagogue.
grapes. The scene might be Daniel in the Lions’
Den (Ilan 1969: 185; Ma‘oz 1981: 112; 1995:
265-269), though the addition of the lioness and
her cub gives the biblical scene a local naïve interpretation.
Two additional portrayals of this scene appear
in a Byzantine Christian context in Israel:
A wall painting in a tomb near Lohamei
Haghettaot, dated to late 4th or early 5th century
(Foerster 1986), shows Daniel, in orans posture,
in Parthian attire, and wearing a Phrygian cap,
between two animals, lions (?) flanked by a pair
of candelabra (fig. IV-17b). The scene is poorly
executed, quite like the depiction of the Na#aran
synagogue.
A scene possibly illustrating Daniel in the lions’
den was carved and incised on the western wall in
the northern cave at Tel Lavnin, Judaean Shephelah,
dating to the 5th-6th century (Zissu 1999).
The scene consists of a lioness (or a lion?) with
head en-face turning towards a Greek inscription
on the left reading ‘Daniel/Ioannes/the priest’;
above is a deeply carved cross (fig. IV-17c). To the
left of the inscription Zissu (1999: 567) describes
some remains of another lion (?). He maintains
that this scene is a depiction of Daniel in the
lion’s den, with the figure of Daniel replaced by
the cross, and the inscription indicating the significance
of the theme.
Daniel in the Lions’ Den is a popular theme
in Early Christian art (fig. IV-18), appearing on
wall paintings of catacombs and on sarcophagi in
Rome (Ehrenstein 1923: chap. XXXVI: figs. 1-3;
Bock and Goebel 1961: fig. 49; Grabar 1968:
paintings—ill. 1,2, 26, 29; Tronzo 1986: fig. 95;
Ferrua 1991: fig. 139). In these scenes Daniel is
usually depicted in orans pose and flanked by a
pair of lions; frequently he is naked. 10
10 Foerster (1986: 418-9) claims that the scene of Daniel
in the lions’ den in Christian funerary art in the 4th century