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80 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

iblical narrative themes and images: representation, origin, and meaning 81 Figure IV-17. Daniel in the Lions’ Den: a. on a stone relief from ‘En Nashut; b. in a tomb near Lohamei Haghettaot; c. carving in a cave at Lavnin, Judaean Shephelah in the West renders Daniel naked in orans posture, flanked by two lions kneeling or lying down; whereas the 5th-6th-century examples in the East (also in the West) show Daniel attired in a Parthian dress and a Phrygian cap. with the flanking lions standing or walking.

iblical narrative themes and images: representation, origin, and meaning 81<br />

Figure IV-17. Daniel in the Lions’ Den: a. on a stone relief from ‘En Nashut; b. in a tomb near Lohamei Haghettaot;<br />

c. carving in a cave at Lavnin, Judaean Shephelah<br />

in the West renders Daniel naked in orans posture, flanked<br />

by two lions kneeling or lying down; whereas the<br />

5th-6th-century examples in the East (also in the West)<br />

show Daniel attired in a Parthian dress and a Phrygian<br />

cap. with the flanking lions standing or walking.

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