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The axial column was probably flanked symmetrically
by alternating birds and animals in each row,
which were replaced by grapes, plants, trees, and
simple tesserae. The two bottom rows are missing
and were originally in the area of the church
door that was covered over by a mosaic of geometric
patterns and a central inscription during
the 8th-century restoration. In keeping with the
group II mosaics, the amphora from which the
vine trellis emerged, with flanking animals or
birds, might originally have been on the covered
bottom row.
The 6th-century mosaic of the chapel of Qam
(Piccirillo 1993: 340, fig. 750) is decorated with
inhabited scrolls issuing out of a central amphora
flanked by birds, the right side of the mosaic is
completely destroyed. They form three? (four?)
columns of seven rows inhabited by animals,
birds, and baskets.
At the 7th-century three-apsed church at Zoara
(Piccirillo 1993: 336, figs. 723,725-6), in the
bottom row of the sanctuary mosaic only the right
peacock survived, possibly flanking an amphora.
In the central medallion a cross flanked by two
lambs is inscribed with telos kalon (good end).
Characteristic features of group II (Table
VI-1):
•
•
The floors were divided into five columns of
medallions (except at Petra, with only three
columns). The central vertical axial column
generally contains inanimate objects such
as baskets and bowls full of grapes or fruit,
a bird-in-cage, and a bird of prey. Four (or
two) vertical columns of medallions, two on
each side of the central static axial column,
contain antithetic groups of beasts and
birds; ordinarily these are pairs of identical
animals or birds in the same row, flanking
and facing the axial column, forming
a symmetrical composition. The birds and
animals alternate either in each row (a row
of birds above a row of animals (Shellal,
Petra ), or a bird and animal alternating in
the same row, with the animal in the upper
row rendered above a bird in the lower
row (Ma#on, Horvat Be"er-Shem#a, Horvat
Beth Loya). The composition is vertically
oriented by the objects of the central axial
column and horizontally oriented by the
identical inhabited rows.
The symmetric arrangment and the vine
scrolls pattern are reduced almost to a geometric
design, which imparts a rhythmic
and harmonic composition.
chapter six
• The medallions are formed by vinebranches
issuing out of one central point,
an amphora in the central medallion of the
bottom row, flanked by peacocks (except at
Be"er-shem‘a, where the amphora is flanked
by lions, and at Ma#ale "Adummim, where
it is flanked probably by a pair of gazelles).
Two intersecting branches form the medallions
in the axial column; the medallions
of the side columns grow horizontally out
of the central medallions.
• The bunches of grapes are set in horizontal
rows.
• The Ma#on, Shellal, and Be"er-shem‘a
me dal lions are connected vertically and
hori zontally by rings.
• The central axial column contains various
objects, with the recurring depiction
of a bird-in-cage, a bird of prey, a double
basket, bowls, and vases (Be"er Shem#a,
Beth Loya, Ma#on, Petra, Shellal).
• Horror vacui:
The medallions are loosely
filled with leaves and grapes, to minimize
the empty space if the figure did not fill
it completely.
• Activity is rare in more than one medallion
(except for several scenes at Be"er Shem#a,
Shellal, Petra).
• Lack of proportion: the animals and birds
are depicted in uniform size inside the
medallion; the aim was not to copy nature:
birds and beasts were made the same size
so that they could be squeezed into one
medallion (see, for instance, the equal sizes
of birds and elephants at Ma#on and Petra
(Avi-Yonah 1936: 17; 1960: 31; Dauphin
1976a: 129).
• The animals are usually portrayed as
docile and quiet. Even the beasts appear
tame, demonstrating peaceful co-existence
of savage and timid beasts, smaller animals,
and birds. The animals at Ma#on are
depicted in movement, for instance, the
hound in chase, the hares in flight; but the
animals at Shellal—the leopard, the ram
and the goats—lower their heads, as do
most of the animals at the Petra church. At
Be"er Shem#a several of the animals, a goat,
the leopardess and lioness, the bull, and
the bear, are also depicted with inclined
heads (pl. VI.20).
• Human figures are depicted in several
activities only at Be"er Shem#a and Petra.