Untitled

128
century. They too belong to small rectangular
rooms and have a similar composition. In the
bottom row is an amphora, from which issue vinebranches
forming the medallions, flanked by peacocks,
birds, or other animals. The pavement of
funerary chapel at ‘Ain el-Bad (Donceel-Voûte
1988: 16-18, fig. 1) shows seven medallions filled
with birds, and a cross is rendered in the upper
centre; the amphora is flanked by a pair of peacocks.
The 6th-century panel in the side aisle of
the Houad church (Donceel-Voûte 1988: 141-2,
fig. 112, pl. h.-t. 8) shows a amphora sending forth
branches which form four medallions, all filled
with birds. The mosaic pavement at Frikya (Balty
1995: pl. XXVI,1) is different. The amphora issuing
seven medallions is flanked by a ram and a
rabbit eating from a basket; the other medallions
contain a rooster, a donkey, a deer, a leopard
and a dog; an inscription appears in the centre.
Another interesting comparable mosaic is found
in the Inferior Church at Khan Khalde (Phoenicia)
(Donceel-Voûte 1988: 386-7, fig. 373). The
amphora from which four medallions emerge is
flanked by a peacock on the right and a partridge
on the left, with a bird-in-cage inside the same
medallion; a rooster, a duck, and some other birds
are depicted inside and outside the medallions.
The last two groups of mosaic pavements,
IV and V, decorated with inhabited vine scrolls
differ in design, style, and content from groups
I-III; the vine medallions are inhabited by scenes
of figures active in such things as vintage and
hunting, as well as animals and birds. Also, they
lack the rigid symmetrical and balanced layout
of groups I-III.
Group IV comprises inhabited vine scroll mosaics
discovered in Israel and Jordan, and is uniform in
the general composition and content of the medallions.
The vine scrolls rise out of an amphora or
an acanthus leaf placed at the base, flanked by a
pair of peacocks, lions, or leopards. The composition
is arranged horizontally, while groups I-III
are composed vertically. In the vintage and hunting
scenes the figures and objects are distributed
haphazardly, with no relative proportion; all are
depicted in the same size. None of these mosaics
has a central axial column containing objects,
nor are the side columns symmetrical in content
(Table VI-2). Most scenes appear in one or two
medallions with no connection; the movement of
the scenes or animals is also in all directions.
chapter six
The mosaic pavements of this group appear in
the Beth She"an area: ornamenting room L at the
Beth She"an Monastery of Lady Mary, the tomb
chamber pavement at El Hammam, Beth She"an,
and perhaps the Sede Nahum chapel carpet.
The composition at the Beth She"an Monastery,
Room L, dated to 567 (Fitzgerald 1939: 9),
is divided into twelve medallions in four columns
and three rows formed by a vine-trellis issuing out
of an amphora in the central medallion of the first
row (fig. VI-13). The medallions are integrally
connected vertically and with an added line horizontally.
They contain grape-harvesting activities
in the two lower rows, hunting episodes and a
figure leading an animal for display beast in the
top row, each filling only one medallion. The
figures are similar in appearance. In between the
medallions are birds and animals, all the same
size.
In the tomb chamber at El Hammam, Beth
She"an (Avi-Yonah 1936: 13-16; pl. XIV), the
inhabited vine scrolls pavement is arranged in
seven columns and eight rows: fifty-six medallions,
of which nine are lost (fig. VI-14). The vinetrellis
issuing out of an acanthus leaf in the centre
of the bottom row is flanked by two peacocks;
two vintagers carrying baskets and a fruit basket
survived on the right; the other medallions contain
vintage and hunting scenes (see Chap. VII,
Tables VI-2; VII-1), birds, animals and baskets.
As usual for this group, the composition shows
no symmetrical arrangement. The human figures,
animals, and objects, as well as the vintage and
hunting scenes, are distributed with no order or
direction; all figures are disproportionately the
same size, and most animals show conventional
attitudes. Humans and animals interact, and the
action scenes usually fill no more than two medallions.
The 6th century Sede Nahum chapel nave is
decorated with inhabited vine scrolls pavement,
arranged in three columns (originally perhaps four
or five) and about ten rows, of which only fourteen
medallions survived (pl. VI.9; fig. VI-15,). The
medallions contained a figure of a harvester animals,
and birds: a fox, ducks, two doves, a cock,
a hind, a donkey and an episode of snake and
mongoose confrontation (pl. VII.6b) (Zori 1962:
183; Ovadiah and Ovadiah 1987: 125-126).
Several mosaic pavements discovered in Jordan
show a similar design of the inhabited vine scroll,
incorporating various scenes of vintage activities,
village life, and hunting, which include human