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Figure VI-8. Group II: a. Jerusalem‘Armenian’ Church; b. Ma#on synagogue; c. Shellal church pavements.
standing with an inclined (bent or lowered) head,
or seated in a position of compliance and tameness.
This posture of docility is also characteristic
of the wild animals depicted on the Be"er-Shem#a
mosaic.
This scheme of the same animals in dissimilar
poses in the lower half was apparently deliberate.
Waliszekowski (2001: 242) contends that these
variations in some of the medallions of the left
and right columns is proof of the work of more
than one artist.
Several of the Petra animals hold a similar posture
to animals in other mosaics of this group: the
tiger and the ram at Shellal; the leopard (A16) is
similar to the posture of the leopard at Ma#on; the
leopard at the Petra church (C16) is identical in
posture to the tigress in row 4 at Shellal (Trendall
1957: pl. IIIb) and to the lioness and leopardess
with inclined heads, the bulls, and the bear at
Be"er Shem#a (pl. VI.20). The horse resting on
bent legs at Petra (A7) is similar to the posture of
the buffalo in row 4 at Ma#on (Avi-Yonah 1960:
pl. IV, 3). The pair of birds at Petra (in row 9)
are similar to the pair in row 2 at Ma#on (Avi-
Yonah 1960: pl. III, 2). The eagle at Petra (B15)
is similar to the eaagles at Ma#on and Jerusalem,
also seen in the central column (pl. VI.14). The
medallions at Petra are only slightly filled with
leaves and grapes, as at Shellal; the leaves and
grapes are schematic and conventional and display
fewer details.
Most of the characteristic features of group II
occur at Petra: the central axial column is filled
with objects such as baskets, vases, a bird-cage,
a bird of prey, and a double basket. The rows
alternate with identical animals and birds in the
side columns.
A group of almost destroyed mosaics perhaps
belongs to this composition as well:
The ‘En Hanniya basilica pavement with five
columns and twelve rows of medallions, mostly
destroyed by iconoclasm. Only fourteen medallions
survived, showing remains of birds, animals,
and baskets (Baramki 1934: 115, pl. XXXVI).
The mosaic in the narthex of the church at the
monastery of St. Martyrius at Khirbet el-Murassas
(Ma#ale "Adummim), dated to the last quarter
of the 5th century, shows only five columns with
two rows that have survived (Magen and Talgam
1990: 110-113, 122-3, 150, figs. 25, 26, 30-32;
Magen 1993: 179, pl. Xa). The medallions are
formed by vine-branches rising out of an amphora
in the centre of the bottom row, flanked by goats
in the inner medallions and probably birds in