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chapter seven
Figure VII-6. Two panels on the north aisle of Kissufim church: A giraffe and an elephant facing each other; above:
prancing zebras.
at Qabr Hiram in Phoenicia (Donceel-Voûte
1988: 106, 411-415, figs. 73, 80, 403; pls. H.-t.5,
h.-t.17).
Big Game Hunting
Hunting scenes are popular motifs on mosaic
pavements in general and frequently appear in
the inhabited scrolls. Big game hunting was an important
theme in ancient mosaics and consisted of
two main types (Merrony: 1998: 452): human and
animal combat reflecting the hunting activities of
the mosaic’s patron, and the capture and transportation
of beasts and animals for public display.
The hunt scene may vary: a hunter on foot
striking a beast with spear or lance; a mounted
hunter striking an animal with lance or spear; an
archer on foot or mounted hunting animals (pls.
VII.10-13; Table VII-3).
Levi (1971, I: 237-244) and Merrony (1998:
452–456) believe that the hunting motifs might
have derived from representations of mythological
examples that in time acquired a symbolic
value. Merrony (1998: 453-455) states, ‘the 6th
century Levantine pavements derived their subject
matter from the same sources as the Roman
predecessors’, inspired by earlier models. Several
examples, such as the Calydonian Hunt mosaic in
the Constantine villa at Antioch, show the hunter
on the left facing the animal on the right and a
similar motif in which the stricken lion bites the
arrow. Dunbabin (1978: 35-6) asserts that the
hunting scenes in Roman villas reflect the hunting
activities of the mosaic’s patron. Comparable