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iconographic aspects of rural life 161
Figure VII-5. a. A lioness with wings seizing a swan, Kissufim church north aisle panel; b. Winged lioness attacking a
swan; c. winged tiger devouring a bull, Haouarte North Church.
The panels in the northern aisle of the church
at Kissufim show several animal combat scenes:
in one, a lion devours a bull (pl. VII.9b), similar
in content to Sepphoris but portrayed differently;
in another a hound chases a deer and hare
(pl. VII.8b). A lioness with wings (interpreted as
a griffon by Cohen) seizes a swan in another register
(fig. VII-5a). A similar scene earlier in date
of a winged lioness attacking a swan and winged
tiger devouring a bull appears at either end of
the south aisle mosaic of the Haouarte North
Church (fig. VII-5b,c) (Donceel-Voûte 1988:
pl. h-t.5, fig. 73).
Other two panels at Kissufim show a realistically
depicted giraffe facing an elephant in one
panel and prancing zebras in the panel above
(fig. VII-6).
Two scenes of wild beasts capturing their prey
appear in two surviving octagons at the Emmaus
pavement (Vincent and Abel 1932; Avi-Yonah
1981: 355, no.346). A wild beast savagely attacking
a goat appears in the fourth register in the
first panel mosaic of the Church of al-Khadir (Lux
1967: 170; Piccirillo 1993: 130, fig. 142).
Although the combat scenes on the Byzantine
mosaics of Sepphoris and Kissufim evoke
the comparable late Roman villa mosaics at
Shechem, Sepphoris, and especially Lod, the Byzantine
scenes are striking: the artists fashioned
the combat scenes with thought, drawing attention
to the vicious attack. The beasts and smaller
animals are realistically rendered with emphasis
on their features.
In Syria and Phoenicia several animal combat
episodes similar in the ferocity of the attack are seen
in the south and north aisle friezes of the North
church at Haouarte in Syria (the ‘Michaelion’).
Several vignettes of animals in vicious combat
appear in two medallions (fig. VI-18) on the 6thcentury
inhabited vine scroll mosaic in the nave