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102
XXXV, 3; plan general). A naked bearded Nilus
holding most likely a sistrum in his left hand, is
reclining on a biga pulled by two hippopotami with
a naked putto riding on one of them, a garland is
attached and carried on by two putti (fig. V-3) 2 .
The river labelled ΓΗWΝ Gehon rendered on
a mosaic pavement in the East Church at Qasr-el
Lebia (Olbia) in Libya (539-540) is personified as
Gehon, the river of Paradise, usually identified
with Nilus (Maguire 1987: 44-55, figs. 52-57).
He is depicted as a bearded almost completely
naked figure, reclining on a vessel from which
water pours out (fig. V-4), quite like the portrayal
of Nilus on the Sarrîn and Jiyé pavements. It is
apparently a depiction of the Nile, as Hermann
(1959: 63, Fig.5) argues, as indicated by the
sistrum, which he holds in his right hand and
the cornucopia at his left arm. (see Chap. VIII,
p. 183).
This type of Nile personification with accompanying
putti goes back to the Hellenistic period,
and might have derived from painting or from
sculpture. The number which the putti indicated
is the desirable flood-level of the river, but it is not
possible to determine when the putti were added
to the depiction of the reclining Nile (Whitehouse
1979: 194-196; Jentel 1992: 720-726).
The half-draped figures of the Nile in the mosaics
at Beth She"an and Sepphoris are similar in
their general posture, and both (likewise the figure
of ‘Egypt’ at Sepphoris) are larger than the other
figures. Both are seated on hippopotami from
whose mouths the Nile water streams, as well
as from an amphora. However, the Nile at Beth
She"an is a different type from the one at Sepphoris
and other early examples of river personifications;
he is sitting rather than reclining, and a
duck replaces the cornucopia in his right hand.
Conversely, the Nilus in the Sarrîn border
mosaic, as well as at Jiyé, is depicted in a different
style: he reclines on a biga towed by two hippopotami;
at Olbia he rests on a vessel, holding a
sistrum in his hand. The horseman in the Nilotic
scene at Beth Guvrin holds a similar sistrum in his
hand. In all representations Nilus is bearded.
2 Two early mosaics rendering the Nile god were found,
one in the House in Patras, Greece (dated to 200-300 CE;
Versluys 2002: No. 119), In the mosaic square the personification
of the Nile god is seated on a crocodile. Around
him are five boats with pygmies and large lotus flowers.
A mosaic at Villa Puente Genil, Spain (dated to 300-400
CE; Versluys 2002: No. 106) the mosaic square depicts the
chapter five
Figure V-4. The Gehon-Nilus on a mosaic pavement of
the East Church at Qasr-el Lebia (Olbia), Libya.
The Nile river is depicted as a stream shown as
stripes of wavy lines filled with fishes and plants;
at Haditha the Nile appears as a wide horizontal
stripe on the lower part of the border (pl. V.2b).
The Nile at Beth She"an pours out of the jug
and the hippopotamus’ mouth. It flows down in
two wavy lines along the side of the mosaic and
turns into four lines across the bottom (pl. V.1).
At Sepphoris (pl. V.3) the Nile stream originating
in the hippopotamus’ mouth is richly represented
in one central stream consisting of twelve wavy
lines, which divide the pavement, and another
thinner stream flowing down on the right side
of the mosaic.
The Nilometer
The Nilometer is a structure that measures the
level of the Nile in flood, and has different depictions
in the Hellenistic and Roman periods
(Hermann 1959: 62; Wild 1981: 25-26; Meyboom
1995: 244-245, notes 77,78; Friedman 2001).
On mosaic pavements the instrument is usually
personification of the Nile god with long hair and beard,
around him are two ibises, a hippopotamus and a crocodile.
Two depictions of the Nile personification appear on
Roman reliefs: a relief, adorns a base perhaps an altar, Rome
(250 CE). The other relief, Rome (100-200 CE) portrays
the Nile god with a cornucopia in his hand, leaning on a
hippopotamus (Versluys 2002: Nos. 9 and 12).