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the outer ones; the second surviving row shows a
rabbit eating grapes in the outer medallions and a
bird in the inner medallions flanking a completely
destroyed central medallion. The arrangement is
similar to that of the Ma#on synagogue mosaic,
in which the flanking columns have alternating
birds and animals in the same row. An almost
completely lost field mosaic of inhabited vine
scrolls framed by an inhabited acanthus scroll
border was found on an upper room mosaic in
Mt. Berenice church at Tiberias dated to the late
6th century (Area B, next to the Byzantine city
wall on Mt. Berenice; Amir 2004: 146, fig. 8.21,
plan 8.2).
the ‘inhabited scrolls’ mosaic pavements 121
Figure VI-9. Group II: a. Be"er-Shem#a church pavement; b. Beth Loya church pavement; c. Petra church pavement.
Several mosaics discovered in Jordan are akin
to those of group II: the nave mosaic pavement
of the Chapel of Theotokos in the monastery of
#Ayn al-Kanish (pl. X.3), dated to the second
half of the 6th century (Piccirillo 1998: 359-363;
Ognibene 1998: 376-382), though greatly disfigured
by iconoclasts, evinces a similar scheme to
group II. The mosaic consisted originally of five
columns and seven rows. The axial column has
objects such as a basket, a cantharos, a vase full of
fruit, and flowers; several birds and parts of animals
survived in some of the rows; in the central
scroll of the fourth row the unusual rendition of
a phoenix was oddly spared, with some repairs.