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On some Arabian inhabited scroll mosaics a
wicker basket full of grapes and carried by figures
is portrayed, within medallions at the church of
the Sts. Lot and Procopius (pl. VI.11) (Piccirillo
1993: fig. 204), on the inhabited acanthus scroll
mosaic of the Upper Chapel of the Priest John at
Mukhayyat on Mt. Nebo (Piccirillo 1993: fig. 119),
and in the 8th-century St. Stephen at Umm al-
Rasas (Piccirillo 1993: fig. 386). Baskets are seen
on other types of mosaics too (Saller and Bagatti
1949: 111), such as the pavement at the Baptistry
Chapel in the Cathedral Church in Madaba (Piccirillo
1993: figs. 119, 204-5, 224, 229). Baskets
filled with fruit also appear on mosaics in Syria-
Phoenicia at Houarte and Zaharani.
Vessels
Various vessels are common motifs represented
frequently in the central axial column in groups
I and II (pl. VI.17): shown in the central axial
column at Ma#on are a semi-globular bowl with
a circular foot, filled with fruit, and a cantharus
with a knob and splaying foot filled with red wine
(?). There is an amphora with two small handles,
and a water vessel containing a hen that has laid
an egg (pl. VI.19)(Avi Yonah 1960: 26-29). Fruit
bowls are seen at Jerusalem and on the pavement
of the Be"er Shem#a church, at Beth Loya
a vase and two semi-globular bowls one with two
birds drinking from it appear on the axial column.
Amphorae appear in the central column in the
mosaics of Shellal and Jerusalem (figs. VI-6,7). A
cantharos ornamented with a lobed design and
a splaying foot with two birds drinking from it
is seen on the Caesarea mosaic (fig. VI-16). At
Petra, a number of vases, bowls and a plate appear
on the axial column of the northern aisle (B5,
B11, B13, B16, B17, B18, B20, B23, B28) (pls.
VI.6-8).
Vine Leaves and Bunches of Grapes
The portrayal of vine leaves and grapes developed
into a schematic and stylized form more
as a decorative device than a natural design.
The round medallions end in a small volute in
Gaza, Ma#on, and Shellal, in a vine leaf at Beth
She"an synagogue and Beth She"an Monastery
Room L, and sometimes in a bunch of grapes
at Hazor-Ashdod, the Jerusalem ‘Armenian’
church mosaic, and Petra, or in a mixture of
chapter six
all of them. A difference in the the vine leaves
and grapes is apparent in many of the mosaics
(pl. VI.18).
The style and shape of vine leaves on the inhabited
scroll mosaics vary and can be divided into
three types (pl. VI.18a-h): (1) leaves in one colour,
closely assembled into a schematic three parts
central leave with with three or four fronds, placed
freely and in random locations (pl. VI.18a,b); this
type is seen at #Asida, Gaza, Hazor-Ashdod, Kh.
Sokho, Beth Loya, Shellal, el Hammam, Beth
She"an, Petra and Suwayfiyah in Jordan. (2) The
vine leaves are depicted more naturalistically, with
one half in a light colour and the other half dark
(pl. VI.18c,d); this type appears at Be"er Shem#a
and Ma#on, Caesarea (?), and on Jordanian pavements
at the Chapel of Elias, Maria and Soreg
in Gerasa, and St. Stephen at Umm al-Rasas. (3)
Vine leaves in one colour with a three- or fivepart
leaf, decorated with one or two light coloured
crosslets (pl. VI.18e-h); this type appear at the
Beth She"an synagogue, the Beth She"an monastry
Room L, and the Jerusalem ‘Armenian’ church
mosaic, and on Jordanian mosaics at Al Khadir,
Madaba, the church of Deacon Thomas, Kaianus
Lower Church, Sts. Lot and Procopius, and the
Lower Chapel of the Priest John.
The bunches of grapes have a schematic shape,
often hanging from two strings sometimes on a
small ring, rendered in and out of the medallion
in all directions (Levi 1971, I: 515; Avi Yonah
1960: 33-4). The bunches of grapes are arranged
in a round ring-like representation in several
colours set in three or four rows. Two styles of
grape depiction are observed (pl. VI.18i-q): (1)
the grapes are oval or round with a central dot
(pl. VI.18i-l); these are seen on the pavements
at Gaza, Hazor-Ashdod, Beth She"an monastry
Room L, the Lower Chapel of the Priest John
on Mt. Nebo, Kaianus lower church and at St.
Stephen at Umm al-Rasas. (2) the bunches appear
in a dark outline and two parts, in horizontal
rows with two or three colours, one half light and
the other half dark (pl. VI.18m-q). At Ma#on the
grapes are oval and the clusters regularly hang
only in one direction; the same shape is rendered
at the ‘Armenian’ church in Jerusalem; at Beer
Shem#a, Beth Loya, Ma#on, at Deir el-Asfur and
Kh. Sokho; at the Jordan inhabited scrolls mosaics
of Sts. Lot and Procopius, Deacon Thomas,
Suwayfiyah and the Chapel of Elias, Maria and
Soreg at Gerasa. The pavement at Shellal seems