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in Jordan: at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat on Mt. Nebo,
the lower chapel of the Priest John (pl. VII.1c),
the church of Sts. Lot and Procopius (pl. VII.1e),
the north aisle panel of the church of St. George
(Saller and Bagatti 1949: 75, pl. 28,3), the church
of the Deacon Thomas (pl. VII.1f), and the lower
church of Kaianus at #Uyun Musa on Mt. Nebo
(pl. VII.1d). A similar damaged figure is rendered
at al-Khadir at Madaba, and in the 8th-century
St. Stephen at Umm al-Rasas (Piccirillo 1993:
131, figs. 153,202-206, 263, 274, 345). At the
mosaic of the Church of Elias, Mariah and Soreg
in Gerasa the vintager is rendered on the bottom
row in an inhabited vine scroll (fig. VI-16). He
wears a Phrygian cap, a short tunic, and a fluttering
chlamys. He holds a knife in his right hand
and gathers a bunch of grapes on the left (Saller
and Bagatti 1949: 271, pl. 45). The third panel
of the church of St. Paul at Umm al-Rasas displays
a disfigured inhabited vine scroll carpet of
which only four medallions have partly survived
(Piccirillo 1997: 386-7, plan I, foto 25; 2002: 545).
In one of the medallions the hands of a figure
cutting off a bunch of grapes survived.
The Grape Porter
The grape porter in the inhabited vine scroll
appears as a youth carrying a basket on his left
shoulder; he wears a short sleeveless tunic decorated
with two orbiculi, and is either barefoot or
has sandals on his feet. A grape porter occurs at
Room L in Lady Mary Monastery at Beth She"an
(fig. VII-1a) (Fitzgerald 1939, pl. XVII, fig. 1). A
porter with a full basket of grapes and a knife, his
right leg stretched out on the frame of the medallion,
appears at el-Hammam at Beth She"an
(fig. VII-1b) in two medallions in the bottom row,
one almost completely destroyed (Avi-Yonah
1936: 14, pl. XVII, 4). A porter carrying a basket
of grapes is portrayed in a partly destroyed medallion
of an inhabited vine scroll mosaic at Caesarea
(fig. VII-1c) (mosaic pavement 11029, Area
CV11; Lehman 1999: 147, fig. 9-10, pl. 11).
In Arabian mosaics a porter wearing a short
tunic and a chlamys appears in a medallion at
the Chapel of Elias, Mary, and Soreg at Gerasa
(fig. VII-1e); he carries the basket with both arms
(Saller and Bagatti 1949: 270, pl. 45; Piccirillo
1993: 296, fig. 572). At Sts. Lot and Procopius
church at Mukhayyat on Mt. Nebo the porter is
depicted as an old white-bearded man carrying on
chapter seven
his back a basket full of grapes (fig. VII-1d) (Saller
and Bagatti 1949: 59, pl. 16, 2; Piccirillo 1993:
figs. 202, 205). A figure carries on his shoulder a
bunch of grapes balanced by a staff, and another
man carries grapes in medallions of an inhabited
vine scroll mosaic on the second panel of the al-
Khadir church at Madaba (Piccirillo 1993: 131,
fig. 147). The grape porter usually is turning right,
while the porter at Caesarea and at the Chapel
of Elias, Mary, and Soreg at Gerasa is walking
to the left.
A Youth Leading a Donkey Transporting Grapes
This scene usually fills two medallions: in one a
youth is stands or walks, leading a donkey rendered
in the other medallion (pl. VII.2). The
youth wears a short tunic, its lower part decorated
with two orbiculi. He is usually barefoot,
but at Be"er Shem#a he wears sandals and in the
lower chapel of the Priest John he wears shoes.
The figure grasps in one hand a rope with which
he leads the donkey, on which a harness usually
loaded with baskets of grapes is shown. In the
other hand he holds a stick or a whip. Sometimes
the youth is looking back at the donkey.
The donkey usually carries a pointed basket;
the unusual kind of sack seen on the donkey’s
back at Be"er Shem#a is exceptional. Only on the
mosaic at el-Hammam does the youth carry a
full basket on his back, and he drives the donkey
with a two-tailed whip held in his right hand
(Avi-Yonah 1936: 15, pl. XVI, 2). The basket
with a pointed base carried by the donkey is the
double basket, which appears in frontal position
on some inhabited vine scroll mosaics (see the
baskets depicted at Ma#on, Shellal, and Petra
(figs. VI-5, 6; pl. VI.6-8).
A youth leading a donkey appears in one
medallion in the bottom row of Room L in Lady
Mary Monastery at Beth She"an (pl. VII.3a). The
remains of a donkey looking back are seen in
another medallion in the same row (fig. VI-13)
(Fitzgerald 1939: 9, pls. XVI, XVII, fig. 1,3). A
figure leading a donkey in two separate medallions
appears at Be"er Shem#a (Gazit and Lender
1993: pl. XXIa). At el-Hammam in Beth She"an
the youth whips the donkey (pl. VII.3b) (Avi-
Yonah 1936: pl. XVI, 2). An almost completely
naked youth holding a whip leads a donkey
in two medallions of the inhabited acanthus
scroll mosaic border at Nahariya (Dauphin and
Edelstein 1984: volutes 21, 22, pl. XXIIIa,b).