Untitled

172
mosaic at St. Stephen’s church at Be"er Shem#a
(Gazit and Lender 1993: 276, pl. XXc). A similar
scene of a man (head destroyed) dressed in a decorated
long-sleeved tunic, pants, and shoes, holding
a plate in both hands, is shown in three-quarters
view in a medallion (C26) of the vine rinceau at
the north aisle of Petra church. A slightly stooping
African shown in three-quarters view, wearing a
short-sleeved decorated tunic, looks at a jug he
holds up with both hands in a medallion (A26) of
vine rinceau in the north aisle of Petra church.
An elderly bearded man wearing a short white
sleeveless tunic with a hood and sandals, holding
a Gaza amphora in both hands and bending
over the vessel, appears in a medallion (C4) of
vine rinceau in the north aisle of Petra church
(Waliszewski 2001: 225-6;240-41). The Gaza
amphora is depicted on several mosaic pavements
(pl. XII.6f-h).
A youth with a stick over his shoulder and a
figure waving his right arm appear in the vine
rinceau border of the narthex mosaic in the Beth
Loya church (Patrich and Tsafrir 1993: 266,
268).
A man wearing a short tunic decorated with an
orbiculus, kneeling on his right knee, milking a goat
with both hands into a vase, is the vignette on a
partly destroyed panel at Kissufim (fig. VII.10).
The same scene is found on the floor mosaic of
the Byzantine Imperial Palace at Constantinople
(Trilling 1989: pl. D).
The mosaic floor of the Diakonikon at Jabaliyah
has several scenes: on the field mosaic two figures
sit facing each other (pl. VII.10a,b). A figure
is seated on a rock on the right of the mosaic
panel; a man wearing a short tunic decorated with
orbiculi and sandals holds the horns of a goat in
both hands on the left side of the panel.
A bald and bearded elderly harvester, barefoot
and clad in a loincloth, holds wheat stalks
in his right hand and a sickle in his left in the
scene in a medallion of the inhabited acanthus
scrolls mosaic at the St.George’s church at Khirbat
al-Mukhayyat, on Mt. Nebo (Saller and Bagatti
1949: 71, pl. 25, 3). A man naked except for
shorts and with bare feet holds a basket in his
left hand and harvests pomegranates from a tree
in the top row of the vine rinceau mosaic of the
church of the Deacon Thomas (Piccirillo 1993:
187, fig. 256). An unusual scene of a man carrying
a bed on his shoulder appears in a medallion in
the inhabited acanthus scroll mosaic in the nave
chapter seven
of the Church of Bishop Sergius at Umm al-Rasas
(Piccirillo 1993: 235, fig. 367).
A boy wearing a loincloth and a triangular
kerchief, extracting a thorn from the sole of his
left foot, appears in a medallion of the inhabited
acanthus scroll border at the church of Nahariya
(Dauphine and Edelstein 1984: pl. 38, Volute 66;
1993: 52).
Youths holding peacocks form the scene on
two mosaic pavements: two boys each holding
a peacock in both hands are seen in medallions
flanking the acanthus leaf in the bottom row of
the inhabited vine scroll mosaic at St. Stephen’s
church at Umm al-Rassas. The eastern panel
mosaic in Zay al-Gharby’s north chapel shows a
youth named Georgios holding a peacock in his
arms in a vine scroll medallion (Piccirillo 1993:
41, 106, 324; figs. 358, 661, 680).
Barefoot boys wearing short tunics are seen
in three central medallions on each side of the
acanthus rinceau border mosaic in the nave of
the church of the Apostles at Madaba (Piccirillo
1993: 106, figs. 79, 80, 82, 83): one boy, a whip
in his right hand and reins in his left, stands in a
wagon drawn by a pair of pheasants or parrots,
which Piccirillo suggests ‘imitates a chariot race
in a hippodrome’; another boy has a flower in
his right hand and a toy windmill in his left. The
third boy holds a large green and blue parrot in
his left hand and has a stick over his right shoulder.
Roussin (1985: 214-216) proposes that the
scene is ‘one of fowling where birds are caught
with lime rods’.
Similar depictions appear on the mosaic pavement
of the Piazza Armerina villa and on a mosaic
floor at Carthage. Dunbabin (1978: 91-92) suggests
that the iconography of the bird circus
tradition originated in North Africa, the theme
probably being initiated at Carthage. Roussin
(1985: 209-213) maintains that these scenes reflect
the use of models inherited from Hellenistic art
and popularized in North African workshops.
Portrayals of women are rare on the mosaics
showing farming or rural activities (pl. VII.17).
However, portraits of female benefactors on Christian
mosaic pavements are almost as common as
males (pl. XI.3).
Figures Leading Camels
Figures leading camels appear on some mosaic
pavements, indicating that the use of a camel as