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V.4 Nilometer: a. Tabgha; b. Sepphoris; c. Beth Leontis, Beth She’an.

eagle. Another Nilotic scene appears on a southern intercolumn panel of the same Church at Tayibat al-Imam, Hamah (Zaqzuq and Piccirillo 1999: 448, plan I, fig. 17). Nilotic landscape scenes and isolated motifs of Nilotica, including such images as animal combat, water plants, crocodiles, ducks, and the Pharos, the Alexandria lighthouse, are depicted on three Byzantine mosaic pavements of Cyrenaic churches: on the panel of the north-east chapel at Qasr-el-Lebia, on the north aisle and southeast chapel of the Cyrene cathedral, and on the mosaic pavement of the nave of the East Church at Qasr-el-Lebia (Alföldi-Rosenbaum & Ward- Perkins 1980: 45-49, 59-60). Although differently executed they are apparently based on a common model. B. The Repertory Elements The iconographic elements of the Nilotic scene compositions consist of (see Table V.1; see also Versluys 2002: 261-299): • The Nile personification • Nilometer • • • • • • Towered building or a walled city with an arched gate, with or without the name inscribed in Greek ‘Alexandria’ or ‘Egypt’ The crocodile and animal combat: a buffalo (cow) attacked by a crocodile Sailing boat with men and sometimes winejars Water plants, nilombos plants like lotus and papyrus Fishes Birds such as cranes, herons, ibis, flamingos, ducks The Personification of the River Nile The Nile river personification is a rare occurrence; he is portrayed as a male figure, reclining on an animal. On the bottom mosaic panel of the House of Leontis at Beth She"an, the Nile dominating the scene is rendered as a bearded, large, half-naked figure, seated on an animal identified as a crocodile (Zori 1966: 131) or a hippopotamus (Roussin 1981: 7); his outstretched right arm holds a duck; his left arm rests on a globular jug, from which the Nile water flows down along the lower part of the panel (pl. V.1). iconographic elements of nilotic scenes 101 At Sepphoris, in room 6 of the Nile Festival Building (Weiss and Talgam 2002: 61, 66-67) the partly destroyed Nile river personification is seen on the upper right corner of the mosaic as a male figure reclining on the back of a large hippopotamus, resting on an amphora from which water streams; the Nile flows down, out of the amphora and the animal’s mouth, along the lower part of the centre of the pavement (pl. V.3). The Nile figure is rendered as an old man with a bare upper body, his right arm outstretched. Three putti carrying gifts accompany Nilus. Two other putti appear; one is mounted on the other’s back, and engraves the number IZ on the Nilometer. A symmetrical counterpoint in the composition at Sepphoris shows on the upper left corner: this is a reclining female figure who personifies Egypt, the female consort of Nilus, also represented as Euthenia, holding a cornucopia in her left hand and leaning with her right elbow on a basket of fruit (pl. VIII.1a). She personifies the abundance brought about by the inundation of the Nile (for the allegorical picture of a goddess and the horn of plenty as a symbol of truphe see Meyboom 1995: 78 and 334, note 198). The personification of the Nile at Sepphoris resembles other renditions of the Nile in the art of Late Antiquity (Dunbabin 1978: 109-110, pl. III; Ostrowski 1991: 56, fig. 1), such as the 2nd- or 3rd-century mosaic pavement from the Villa del Nilo near Lepcis Magna (Hermann 1959: 61-62; Whitehouse 1979: 128, M34; Roussin 1981: 9-10; Versluys 2002: no. 91). The tepidarium mosaic shows a Nile celebration procession, featuring the personified Nile reclining on a hippopotamus and holding a cornucopia in his right hand, accompanied by nine putti, two nymphs, and priests; an inscribed Nilometer is rendered at the left end. In this scene the Nile god is the focus of the representation. A different depiction of the Nile appears in the late 5th or early 6th century on two mosaics discovered at Syria and Phoenicia: on the central panel of the mosaic at Jiyé (Phoenicia) a half naked bearded figure of the Nile is rendered reclining on a cart drawn by a pair of hippopotami lead by a putto, he is wearing a horned hat, holding a sistrum in his right hand and a plant in his left (Ortali-Tarazi and Waliszewski 2000: 168, figs. 1, 3). A slightly similar portrayal appears on the 6th century outer border of the mosaic pavement at Sarrîn (Balty 1990: 60-68, pls. XXXI-XXXIII,

V.4 Nilometer: a. Tabgha; b. Sepphoris; c. Beth Leontis, Beth She’an.

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