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Figures Treading Grapes and the Press
The grape-treading motif in a medallion on inhabited
scroll mosaics commonly consisted of
two or three figures, nude except for a loincloth
(cinctus), with outstretched arms standing in the
vat, or two similar youths treading grapes in a
tub around a wine press rendered in the centre
of the medallion (pl. VII-3).
Three figures are rendered treading grapes
at el-Hammam (pl. VII-3a) (Avi-Yonah 1936:
14-15, pl. XVI, 2). In Room L of the Lady
Mary monastery at Beth She"an (pl. VII-3b) the
partly destroyed medallion originally showed
three figures treading grapes (Fitzgerald 1939:
9, pl. XVI).
Figures treading grapes around a wine press
are rendered on Arabia mosaics: Two youth in
loincloths, treading grapes and holding hands
around a wine press (pl. VII-3c), are shown at the
church of Sts. Lot and Procopius at Mukhayyat on
Mt. Nebo (Saller and Bagatti 1949: 60, pl. 18, 1;
Piccirillo 1993: fig. 202, 206). A somewhat similar
scene appears inside an acanthus medallion
(pl. VII-3d) on the pavement of the church of
St. George at Mukhayyat on Mt. Nebo, where a
pair of treading figures in loincloths grasp each
other by one hand. The treader on the right holding
a shovel. They appear around a wine press
(Saller and Bagatti 1949: 60, pl. 24,1). A similar
scene where two figures (playing music) sit treading
inside a box-like object, with a press in the
centre (pl. VII-4e), is shown on the 6th-century
mosaic of Qabr Hiram in Phoenicia (Donceel–
Voute 1988: 411-12, Fig. 403, pl. n-t.17). A partly
destroyed treading scene is depicted at the 8thcentury
St. Stephen church at Umm al-Rasas with
three figures, of which only two survived; the juice
flows into a dolium depicted outside the medallion
(Piccirillo 1993: fig. 382). A wine press (similar to
the one depicted at the church of Sts. Lot and
Procopius) without any figures is rendered in a
medallion in the inhabited wine scroll border at
the 6th-century Bishop Sergius church at Umm
al-Rasas (Piccirillo 1993: 234, fig. 334).
A Flute Player
A flute player fills a medallion in several of the
inhabited scrolls mosaics. He is portrayed usually
in the same posture, sitting on a basket, in some
cases turned upside-down. He wears a short tunic,
is usually barefoot or with sandals, and holds the
iconographic aspects of rural life 153
single flute in both hands (pl. VII.4). The flute
player usually turns right. Exceptions are the
player at Be"er Shem#a and the standing player
at St. Lot and Procopius, who turn left. The flutist
is often rendered next to the grape treaders; he
seems to be playing in time to their movements.
The flute player appears at el-Hammam (Avi-
Yonah 1936: 14-15, pl. XVI, 2), Be"er Shem#a
(Gazit and Lender 1993: pl. 20A), and in a partly
destroyed medallion at Caesarea (Lehman 1999:
147, figs. 9, 10, pl. 11). A dog listens to the flute
player rendered in a medallion in room L at
the Beth She"an monastery (Fitzgerald 1939: 9,
pl. XVII, 2). A naked flute player sitting on an
overturned basket is depicted in a medallion of
the acanthus rinceau border band of the Byzantine
church of Nahariya (Dauphine and Edelstein
1984: volute 8, pl. XVa; 1993: 51).
In Jordanian mosaics a flute player in a short
tunic stands seemingly absorbed in his playing
at the church of Sts. Lot and Procopius at
Mukhayyat on Mt. Nebo (pl. VI.11) (Piccirillo
1993: figs. 202, 206); the flutist rendered in the
acanthus medallion at the church of St. George
is differently dressed and is seated on a stool-like
object (Saller and Bagatti 1949: 70, figs. 7, 8, pls.
23, 2; 24,1, 2; Piccirillo 1993: fig. 245). A flute
player sitting on a basket appears at Al-Khadir
(Lux 1967: pl. 33D; Piccirillo 1993: 131, fig. 147)
and in an octagon in the Cathedral Chapel of
the Martyr Theodore at Madaba (Piccirillo
1993: figs. 96, 109). A flute player sitting on a
stool is rendered in the acanthus border at the
church of St. Kyriakos at al-Quwaysmah (Piccirillo
1993: fig. 492). The depiction of a seated
flute player has partly survived in the 8th-century
St. Stephen at Umm al-Rasas (Piccirillo 1993:
fig. 382). A double-flute player sitting on a basket
is rendered in a medallion on the 6th-century
inhabited vine scroll mosaic of Qabr Hiram in
Phoenicia (fig. VI-18) (Donceel-Voute 1988: 411-
412, fig. 403, pl. n-t.17).
Two mosaics found at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat
on Mt. Nebo—the inhabited vine scrolls at the
church of Sts. Lot and Procopius (pl. VI-11), and
an inhabited acanthus scroll mosaic at the church
of St. George—show similar scenes in medallions
of the same row: a vintager transporting grapes
with a donkey walking towards two treaders in a
vine press, and a flutist who seems to guide their
movements with his playing (Saller and Bagatti
1949: 70, figs. 7, 8, pls. 23, 2; 24,1, 2; Piccirillo
1993: figs. 202, 244-5; 1998: 325-6). The two are