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iblical narrative themes and images: representation, origin, and meaning 89
Figure IV-23. The vision of the End of Days on a mosaic at Anemurium.
Here Isaiah’s vision of the End of Days is portrayed
as perfect peace all over nature; the rise
of messianic peace is implied by the illustration
of animals, even natural enemies, which will be
at peace with one another. Perhaps it is meant
to express some kind of prayer for peace (Naveh
1989: 305).
A similar depiction of flanking animals accompanied
by the second part of the verse from Isaiah,
and possibly also symbolizing the End of Days,
is found on the mosaic pavement of the room
north of the church of the Acropolis at Ma‘in
(Jordan), dated to 719-20 (De Vaux 1938: 227,
fig. 2; Piccirillo 1993: 201, figs. 301-302,312). The
original scene rendered a zebu and a lion flanking
a tree, of which only two paws, a tail, a bush, a
hump, a hoof, and the points of two horns have
survived (pl. IV.8b). Above at the border of the
panel is the biblical verse in Greek καί λέων ώς
βοϋς φάγ[ονται άχυρα] ‘And the lion will eat
[straw] like the ox’ (Isaiah 11: 7; 65: 25). The
original figures were damaged and covered later
by a bush, an amphora, and vine scrolls. Piccirillo
contends that the scene signifies ‘the messianic
reign of peace as foretold by Isaiah and thought
to have been realized by Christ’.
Four more Christian mosaic pavements with
similar illustrations of the Peaceful Kingdom,
depicting pairs of ordinarily hostile animals, and
identified by excerpts from Isaiah 11: 6-8, were
discovered in the churches at Karlik and Korykos
and the Necropolis Church at Anemurium in Cilicia
in Turkey, and at the Mariana Church in
Corsica (Russell 1987: 70-74; cat. no. 14; Donceel
Voûte 1988: 487-488; Campbell 1995: 125-128,
figs. 1-8).
The pavement of the church at Karlik (Gough
1972; 1978: 411-419, fig. 63, pls. 130a,b) is the
most complete version of the theme. It shows
animals that are known enemies now peacefully
portrayed in four pairs, almost in the order of the
biblical verse: in the first row are wolf and lamb,
leopard and kid; in the second row lion and ox,
cow and bear, with an additional pair of stag and
elephant not mentioned in the verse. The scene is
accompanied by the full inscription of Isaiah 11:
6-8, although the text is arranged freely with the
appropriate clause above each of the pairs.
The mosaic fragment in the Necropolis
Church at Anemurium, dated to the mid-5th
century (Russell 1987: 70-74, No. 14, pls. XIII,
19, fig. 17), shows a leopard and a kid flanking a
tree (fig. IV-23), accompanying them is the surviving
portion of the Greek Septuagint legend
with a changed order of the clauses καί παιδίον]
μικρόν άξι αύτούς καί πάρδ[α]λι[ς] συγ[αναπ]
αύσετ[αι έρίφω] ‘and a little child will lead them
and leopard will lie down with kid’ (Isaiah 11: 6).
Russell maintains that a second pair was originally
depicted in the missing area to the north.
In the Cathedral Church of Korykos (Herzfeld
and Guyer 1930: 106-7, figs. 104-5; Budde
1972: figs. 273-274) only a fragment of the mosaic
before the apse has survived, depicting a lioness,
a leopard, and a ram, with the Greek Septuagint
inscription (discerned by Russell 1987:
73, note 202) απααύσεται έρίφω/μικρόν άξι
αύτούς ‘the leopard shall lie down with the kid