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donkey. Lively animal chase scenes appear in the
medallions of the Gaza mosaic: the lowest row
has a pair of bears chasing a deer; a tigress leaps
toward a donkey jerking his legs (row 8), a pair
of foxes chase a deer/stag in the centre (row 4);
and a pair of leopards attack a stag/ibex in the
central medallion (row 2) (compare the animal
chase in row 6 of the Shellal church mosaic in
the west-south Negev, described below). The proportions
between animals and birds are almost
realistic, the birds being smaller than the animals.
The arrangement at Gaza is horizontal, each row
having a group of three animals, connected by a
chase scene or by a symmetrical composition of
animals facing towards the central medallion.
The church at Hazor-’Ashdod, Judaea
(fig. VI-2) is dated by inscription to 512 (Avi-
Yonah 1957; Ovadiah and Ovadiah 1987: 67-68,
no.93); the mosaic consists of an inhabited vine
scroll design of three columns and seven rows of
medallions, only fourteen medallions have survived.
The vine trellis issues from an amphora in
the ‘inhabited scrolls’ mosaic pavements 113
Figure VI-2. Group I: Hazor-Ashdod church pavement.
the centre of the base, flanked by a pair of lionesses.
The central medallion in the second row
has a basket full of grapes with a rabbit seated
on top, flanked by a pair of goats. A pair of dogs
chase a hind in the third row. A leopard and a
donkey are in the side medallions of rows 4 and
5. A pair of cranes are seen in the side medallions
of row 7. Several birds appear outside the medallions
between the first and second row.
At Khirbet #Asida church (fig. VI-3) the inhabited
vine scroll design of the nave mosaic, dated
to the 5th century, consists of three columns,
eleven rows of medallions, in which only seventeen
medallions have survived (Avi-Yonah 1981b:
391). The original design had alternating rows of
animals and birds, with a bird-cage in the central
medallion of row 9. The mosaic was completely
transformed by iconoclasm and later repairs.
Several damaged mosaics show some affinities
with this group of inhabited vine scrolls:
Deir el-Asfur mosaic chapel has three columns
with only seven surviving medallions, which show