Untitled

Figure VI-7. Group II: Jerusalem, the ‘Armenian’ church
pavement.
a figure on an elephant and another leading a
giraffe are seen in row 9 (pl. VII.15a). A figure
carrying a tray in the central axial column in row
10 (pl. VII.17a), thought by the excavators to be
the church storekeeper, is flanked by a horse and
a mare, and a mongoose and snake combat, in a
medallion on the far left (pl. VII.6a) (the theme
appears also in Nilotic scenes, see Chap. V,
p. 106). At Be"er Shem#a, the human figures in
the axial row and those in the side columns, such
as the shepherd, the flute player and the men
leading a donkey and a camel, as well as the men
leading exotic animals, are similar to the usual
depictions in compositions of inhabited scrolls
in groups IV and V (see tables VI-1, 2). But the
woman breast-feeding a baby is unique. The
Be"er-Shem#a mosaic is thus a distinct composition,
unique in style and subject matter, albeit
the ‘inhabited scrolls’ mosaic pavements 119
with affinities to all other groups of inhabited vine
scroll mosaics in the area.
Several notable stylistic details are common to
both Be"er-Shem#a and the Ma#on mosaics (see
Chap. XII, pp. 266-268): the vine leaves and the
bunches of grapes are similarly depicted; the stylistic
rendition of round muscles and some parallel
lines and the posture of the animals are similar
at both Be"er-Shem#a and Ma#on.
The long north aisle of the Petra church has
a pavement of 28 rows in three columns, dated
to c. 550 (Fiema et al. 1995: 295, figs. 3-4; Waliszekowski
2001: 219-244, 262-265).
The mosaic is arranged like the others in the
group in a symmetrical composition, with the central
axial column containing objects such as baskets
and bowls full of grapes or fruit, amphorae, a
bird-in-cage, and a bird of prey (pls. VI.6-8, 14f,
15g, fig. VI-9c). The vine-trellis issues from an
amphora in the centre of the bottom row, flanked
by a pair of peacocks. The rows alternate with
beasts and birds; the flanking side columns show
the same animals in each row, although many of
them are in different postures (see rows 7-10,12,
16). Exceptional are three rows containing human
figures: three medallions in row 4 have a shepherd
leaning on his crook, a dog, and an elderly man
holding an amphora. The three medallions in
row 14 portray a connected scene of two drivers
on the side rows leading a camel in the central
column (pl. VII.18c); in row 26, a pyxis is flanked
by two figures, one holding a jar and the other a
plate (pl. VII.17e).
All the objects in the central column and almost
all the birds (except the roosters in row 21, the
crown cranes in row 23, and the pheasant in row
25) are set within the medallion, whereas the animals
and humans are portrayed with some of their
parts extending beyond the rim.
The figures usually are proportional and coherent.
The same animals and birds are depicted differently
in the upper and lower rows: in the lower
half of the mosaic (rows 1-16) the animals hold
dissimilar postures: one of the flanking animals
crouches or sits, sometimes with open mouth, its
counterpart stands with inclined head (see rows 2,
7, 8, 10, 12, 16; compare the identical pose of the
dog in row 4 to that of the hare in row 8). Some
of the birds are also dissimilar (rows 3, 9). In the
upper half of the mosaic (rows 17-28) the birds
and most of the animals are in identical posture
(rows 1, 5, 6, 11, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20- 25, 27, 28).
Most of the animals appear calm, crouching or