Untitled

164
figs. 202, 213).). A hunter attacks a bear in two
medallions of an inhabited acanthus scroll field at
the Burnt Palace Hall at Madaba (Piccirillo 1993:
78, fig. 37). A hunter spearing a lion is seen in two
medallions of an acanthus rinceau border at the
church of the St. Kyriakos, al-Quwaysmah (Piccirillo
1993: 268, fig. 494). A hunter armed with
a whip fights a wild beast in the fourth register
on the first panel of the Church of al-Khadir at
Madaba (Lux 1967: 170, pls. 30D,31A, 32A; Piccirillo
1993: 129-130, fig. 142).
Hunter-Soldier on Foot Armed with Spear and
Shield
In this scene the hunter-soldier is on the left, holding
a sword, spear, or lance in his right hand
and a hemispherical shield in his left hand fighting
a beast on the right (pl. VII.12). A huntersoldier
wearing a decorated tunic, breeches, and
low boots is armed with a huge shield in his left
hand and a long sword in his right; the scabbard
hangs on his right side. He is about to launch an
attack on a brown bear. The scene appears in a
panel of the northern aisle of St. Elias church at
Kissufim (Cohen 1993: 280, pl. XXIIb). A hunter
dressed in tunic and chlamys, armed with spear
and shield, pursues a lioness with two cubs in
the left medallion in the top row at Room L of
the Beth She"an monastery (Fitzgerald 1939: 9,
pl. XVI). A barefoot hunter dressed in a tunic and
armed with spear and shield attacks a panther in
the acanthus rinceau border of the 6th-century
Hippolytus Hall at Madaba (Piccirillo 1993: 66,
fig. 11). A hunter with a round shield and sword
confronts a bear in the panel above the vine
rinceau at the Church of the Deacon Thomas at
#Uyun Musa on Mt. Nebo (Piccirillo 1989: 220;
1993: 187, figs. 252, 263, 269). A hunter wearing
a Phrygian outfit and boots, armed with spear
and shield, battles a leaping lioness in the top
row of the central panel on the lower mosaic of
the Old Diakonikon-Bapistery at Siyaga, Memorial
of Moses, on Mt. Nebo (Piccirillo 1993: 146,
figs. 166-169, 182). A hunter wearing a short tunic
and a puffed up mantle, a Phrygian cap, breeches,
and shoes, and armed with a sword and shield,
attacks a bear in two medallions of row 1 of the
acanthus rinceau of the Church of the Priest John
at Mukayyat on Mt. Nebo (Saller and Bagatti
1949: 50-51, pl. 9,2). A hunter-soldier with shield
and spear confronts a wounded lioness, each in a
separate medallion of a vine rinceau at the Chapel
chapter seven
of Khirbat al-Kursi (Piccirillo 1993: 265, figs. 476,
479). At the church of al-Khadir in Madaba (Piccirillo
1993: 131, figs. 145, 147), in two medallions
of the inhabited vine scrolls mosaic a hunter with
sword and shield is seen striking at a beast; and
in a medallion of the acanthus rinceau border a
hunter in Phrygian attire has a round shield in his
left hand, and his right hand is outstretched.
Mounted Hunter with Spear or Lance
In the episodes the mounted hunter on a horse on
the left attacks a beast on the right (pl. VII.13).
The border frieze of the nave mosaic at el-Meqerqesh
at Beth Guvrin shows a mounted hunter
wearing a short tunic and with a chlamys streaming
behind his shoulder; armed with a spear, he
attacks a panther. Another horseman also wearing
a tunic and chlamys holds a sistrum in his right
hand; he appears to be riding through Nilotic
scenery (fig. VIII.3) (Vincent 1922: fig. 2, pl. X,
4; Avi-Yonah 1981: 293, no. 23, pl. 49). Similar
mounted hunters with upraised arm appear on
the hunting pavement of the mid-3rd-century
Bordj-Djedid at El-Djem near Carthage (Lavin
1963: 233, 240, figs. 80, 100). A mounted hunter
with moustache and beard wearing a long-sleeved
embroidered tunic and boots strikes a leopard
with his spear in a panel in the northern aisle of
the St. Elias Church at Kissufim (Cohen 1993:
280, pl. XXIIa). A comparable scene occurs in
the lower register of the mid-4th-century hunting
pavement at Orleansville (Lavin 1963: 237,
fig. 88). In a similar fashion a mounted hunter
spearing a lion is rendered in two medallions of
the acanthus rinceau border of the Chapel of the
Martyr Theodore in the Cathedral at Madaba
(Piccirillo 1993: 117, fig. 97).
Two mounted hunters wearing short tunics,
trousers, and boots, armed with spears and accompanied
by their hounds, are seen in row 2 on the
lower mosaic at the Old Diakonikon Bapistery at
Siyaga, Memorial of Moses, on Mt. Nebo (Piccirillo
1993: 146, figs. 166,169, 182). The hunters
hold an identical posture: the outstreched right
hand grasps the spear striking the animal; one
hunter wounds a brown bear with its head turned
back and the other hunter spears a wild boar.
A parallel can be found in the mid-4th-century
hunting pavement of the upper register at Djemila
(Lavin 1963: 233, 240, fig. 87). A mounted hunter
spearing a wild beast has partly survived in two
medallions in the acanthus rinceau border of