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likewise surround the basin of the Jabaliyah baptistry
(fig. VIII.1) (Humbert 1999: 217-18). In the
Monastery of Lady Mary at Beth She"an, Room
A, a giraffe, a zebra and an ostrich appear, each
in an octagon (fig. XII.6). The giraffe is similar
to the one depicted in Room L of the monastery
at Beth She"an (Fitzgerald 1939: 6). A pair of
similar giraffes are rendered at the Petra church
(pl. VI.8; XII.4g) (Waliszewski 2001: 239). Dauphin
(1978a: 407) maintains that the depictions
of these exotic animals at Beth She"an are based
on observations of nature: the animals might
have passed through Beth She"an in a parade
of exotic animals similar to that through Gaza
noted by Timotheus of Gaza. There in 496 CE
a man from India brought two giraffes and an
elephant to the Emperor Anastasius. She further
contends that the presence of these exotic animals
‘can be explained by the geographical position
of Gaza as a junction of caravan routes, and a
centre of commerce and the animals could have
been traded or imported’. A similar proposition
iconographic aspects of rural life 169
Figure VII-8. The Worcester Hunt, Antioch.
by Waliszewski (2001: 239) is that in the Gaza
region animals were depicted realistically probably
owing to observation from nature. But the
exotic animals, especially the less realistic giraffes
(sometimes taken for camels), with a hump on the
back, spots on the body (those usually characteristic
of leopards), and horns on the head, which
appear at the Beth She"an monastery, on Mt.
Nebo, and on the Petra mosaics, are based on
models or pattern books; or they are the result of
the interpretation of the Greek word for giraffe,
which combines ‘camel’ and ‘leopard’. An apparently
realistic depiction of a giraffe, as well as a
camel, is seen at Kissufim and Be"er Shem#a (pls.
VII.18a,b;XII.7b,d). This attest to distinct knowledge
of the difference between the two animals;
both are probably drawn from observation. The
difference in the portrayal evidently has nothing
to do with the date: the giraffes are depicted on
pavements dated to the early, mid-, and late 6th
century.