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group II is absent as some of the animals facing
each other are not the same, many are set outside
the medallions, and several are in the process of
chasing or attacking. The central axis column
depicted with objects—a salient characteristic feature
of the group II pavements—is absent from
this group.
The distinctive composition and content of
the Gaza synagogue and the #Asida, and Hazor-
’Ashdod church mosaics, as well as their date, are
noticeably different from the mosaics of group
II; the pavements do not show common stylistic
features: each seems designed by a different
craftsman (see Chap. XII, pp... ). Consequently
this group of mosaics should not be considered
as part of the pavements which were mistakenly
regarded as the work of the ‘Gaza School’; however,
this type of inhabited vine scrolls composition
was apparently the forerunner of the later
mosaics of group II, as it already has some of the
same features.
Group II (pls. VI.2-4; figs. VI-2-9; Table VI.1) consists
of mosaics executed in long narrow rooms
(Hachlili 1987: 46, composition I). This group
contains the following mosaic floors:
The nave of Ma#on-Nirim synagogue in the
west-south Negev (pl. VI.2; fig. VI-5;) is decorated
with an inhabited vine scroll mosaic, dated to c.
538 (Avi-Yonah 1960); it consists of five columns
and eleven rows, of which the left side is largely
destroyed. The vine-trellis issue from an amphora
in the centre of the first row, flanked by a pair of
peacocks. The axial column has objects such as
baskets, bowls, and a bird cage (apart from the
bird of prey in the second row).
The symmetry in the Ma#on pavement is almost
perfect: the axial column is flanked symmetrically
by alternating birds and animals in each row, usually
identical on either side of the central column,
which results in side columns consisting of the
same alternating birds and animals. The Ma#on
animals are portrayed in a more naturalistic way,
while the animals on the Shellal mosaic (below)
are more stylized; Avi Yonah (1960: 33) maintains
that ‘the Ma#on artist followed his Hellenistic prototypes
more closely’. All the animals at Ma#on
(except perhaps for the ibex) are in movement, for
instance, the hound in chase, the hares in flight.
The Ma#on alternating composition of animals
and birds in each of the horizontal rows made
it impossible to depicte scenes of animal chase
like those shown at Gaza and Shellal. The last
chapter six
Figure VI-5. Group II: the Ma#on synagogue pavement.
three rows have a unique design of a menorah
in the central two medallions, flanked by a pair
of lions in the last row (pl. XI.1a) and two palm
trees in the row below. The Ma#on synagogue
design arrangement (like the other mosaics of
group II) emphasizes the central axial column,